you can't wait for the moment (you have to create it)
by magnetichearts
Summary: In which Annabeth is a bodyguard, Percy is a prince in danger, and they must date for incredibly convoluted reasons. Fake Relationship AU


soooooo... this was literally supposed to be around like 10k, and I'm not really sure what happened. This fic is literally something that I've been working on for the better part of six months, (because I'm the slowest writer in the world) and I've put so much time and effort into it that I really, really hope you all like it. It was a lot of fun to write, and I had a great time coming up with all the scenes. Major, major shoutout and thank you to absopositivelutely for being my beta and listening to me freak out about this fic all the time. You're really appreciated and the best beta ever. Thank you!

* * *

There wasn't much Percy could do that would improve his situation in life. He was the crown prince of one of the wealthiest nations in the world, he had loving parents and amazing friends, and, frankly, he was also pretty popular. Of course, that didn't mean he didn't want to take guns out of the equation.

It wasn't like this was the first time a gun had been pointed at his face, but he couldn't deny that every time it happened, the experience only became that much more jarring. Assassinations were the best way for people to get on the news. He was just exhausted of this particular group coming after him and his family repeatedly.

The second the gun was thrust in his face, Percy leapt back and watched as Will, one of his bodyguards, rammed into the man's side, grappling with him. They were both thrown back against the concrete floor, and Percy watched on in horror as they fought, bile rising in his throat. But none of that was to even come close to the sound of a horrible gunshot echoing through the air.

"Will!" he screamed, rushing forward. He tried to reach his friend's side, but the gunmen scrambled up and dashed off, pursued by many more guards. "Let me go!" he struggled, fighting against the grips of the guards who were keeping him back. There was no way he was going to be responsible for someone else's death, not again. He couldn't go through that, and, most importantly, he didn't want to lose Will.

"Look, he's hurt, ok?" Percy rushed, frantically gesturing to Will. "We need to get him to a hospital, and don't even try to tell me that I cannot come, because there is no way in hell that is happening." This finally made the men holding onto his arms let him go, and he rushed to Will's side, pressing his hands to the wound on his waist.

"You're gonna be fine," he pressed, staring his friend in the eyes. "I promise."

Will chuckled before groaning in pain. "Occupational hazard. Nothing more." Percy gave him a strained smile as two bodyguards lifted Will up and placed him in the car, Percy climbing in after them. The ride to the hospital seemed impossibly long, and all Percy could think about was the unnerving way the slick, warm blood settled on his hands.

As soon as they reached the hospital, he watched helplessly as they loaded Will onto a gurney, and, no matter how much he wanted to follow him or what royal family member he was, he couldn't. Percy made his way to the bathroom to wash the red liquid off, even though a lot of it had already dried and was under his fingernails. He scrubbed his hands so viciously they turned pink, and then stuffed him in his pockets and walked back into the waiting room, where he saw his mother and father.

"Percy!" his mother rushed forward, gripping his face between her hands before pulling him in for a hug. "Oh, thank god you're alright!" She pulled back and stroked his face, frowning deepening. "It's not your fault, sweetheart. You did everything that you could."

Percy buried his face into her hair as she hugged him tightly once more, perfume smelling like apples and cinnamon. "I know, Mom. But all that matters is whether or not Will is ok."

Poseidon nodded, arms folded, jaw set. "He lost a lot of blood, and he'll be out of commission for quite some time, but yes, he's going to be alright. You did the right thing, Percy, trying to stop the bleeding and getting him to the hospital as quickly as possible. You can't blame yourself for what happened. It's not fair."

Percy heaved a sigh with his whole body, and collapsed into a nearby chair. "Thank god," he muttered, rubbing his eyes with his hands.

"Percy," Sally said gently. "This whole incident has made us rethink your security detail. It's becoming far too commonplace of a thing for you to have assassination attempts on your lives, and frankly, you need more men."

"No!" Percy snapped, jolting upright in his seat. "Will got hurt today defending me. I won't have more people hurt just because some idiot decided I was special enough to be killed. I haven't even proved my worth to the people of this nation. That's why I've been out of the palace so much lately. No matter when I'm going to be king, in twenty minutes or twenty years, I still need to be prepared for running this nation, and knowing its people. I can't stop that, Mom."

Sally sighed, rubbing her face with her hand. "I knew you'd say that. We have another option. We give you one bodyguard." Percy nodded, but she held up a hand to stop him. "Percy, this isn't ok. We need to figure out who's trying to kill you, and why. That's why this latest bodyguard is different."

Poseidon nodded, and the guards opened the doors to the hospital. "Follow me," he said. Percy and his mother were escorted by about twenty guards down the hallway into the conference room that the hospital used for staff meetings. Opening the door, Percy walked in an was surprised to find an older man, confined to a wheelchair, sitting there and waiting for them.

Percy shot his father a confused look. "Dad? What's this about?"

Percy's father opened the door to the room. "You can come in now." Percy heard footsteps, and saw black legs walk into the room as someone entered, and he felt all the saliva in his mouth dry up.

A young woman stared right back at Percy, arms crossed and dressed in all black. She looked like a typical California girl, all long legs and tanned skin, with curly blonde hair like a princess. The only thing that ruined the aesthetic was the piercing grey eyes set against her tanned skin. She narrowed them and studied him, calculating and analytical.

Percy gulped. Well, he tried to, but his throat was too try to really do much. She might have been incredibly intimidating, but she was also incredibly stunning.

"Prince Percy." The man in the wheelchair's voice snapped Percy back to reality, and he whipped his head around to look at him. The man smiled knowingly, and Percy shuffled his feet, slightly ashamed that he had been caught staring. Well, it wasn't like he was particularly known for being subtle. In any way. At all.

"I understand there's been multiple attempts in your life," the man continued, his voice soft but strong. "My name is Brunner. I run Nymph Bodyguards, the most elite private security detail in the world. My bodyguards are the best in the world. And this is my best student, Annabeth Chase."

 _Pretty name,_ Percy thought.

"We need to figure out who's trying to attack you and why. But there's no way the people who are trying to attack you are going to attack if there's a million guards around you. I have a plethora of people working behind the scenes to figure out what's going on, but in case some else attacks you, we need to have someone constantly near you, in order so be able to take them down."

He nodded at the blonde girl. "Annabeth will do that for you." Percy nodded.

"That's not all, however." At this, Percy could see Annabeth's expression change slightly, and she turned to face her trainer. So this part was new for her as well. "Annabeth cannot be seen as your bodyguard. Nobody will come after you then. Of course, you'll still have the typical entourage, because no bodyguards is more suspicious, but we need someone efficient and close to you at all times, capable of extracting information. She'll be posing as your girlfriend."

"What?" That was the first time Percy had heard her voice. Annabeth turned to face her trainer, eyebrows raised, clearly in shock. He couldn't blame her. He was as well.

"My _girlfriend_? Why in hell would she need to pose as my girlfriend? Wouldn't that be more suspicious, considering I don't date and I don't exactly have any desire to in the near future?" Percy rubbed the back of his neck, chewing on the inside of his lips in nervousness.

"That's just the thing, Percy. You're a good guy, a good prince, and you really care about your people. You're dedicated to proving your worth and it's not like you're seen with a million different girls in one week. If Annabeth goes out with you, then it'll definitely be seen as a stable, real relationship, and a serious one. We've created the best background for her, and no one will suspect a thing. But we need your cooperation to do this. Please. The sooner we catch the suspects, the sooner you can go back to trying to learn how to run your country."

That last sentence did it for Percy. "Alright. Just make this quick. I'm going to see how Will is doing." He pushed himself up off the chair and kissed his mother on the cheek, shook hands with his father, and gave Brunner and Annabeth a nod before walking out of the room, lost in his own thoughts.

* * *

As soon as the royal family had left the conference room, Annabeth rounded on her trainer. "Chiron!" she exclaimed, using the code name he has established long ago for himself. "What was that, blindsiding me? I'm not about to play the prince's simpering girlfriend! I'm a professional. I can take down men three times my size with nothing but my bare hands. I'm not meant for this. Find someone else, like Piper."

Chiron shook his head, a frown crossing his countenance. "You're not getting it, Annabeth. I need my best people on this. Prince Percy is in abundantly real danger, and although he's not aware of it, we need to do everything we can to try and keep him alive. He's done nothing to elicit these attempts on his life." That much was true. The royal family of Mylar was adored, every since the king had married a commoner instead of a noble girl. It didn't hurt that Prince Percy was adorable as a baby, cute as a child, handsome as a teenager, and striking as an adult. Not to mention, he truly did want the best for his nation.

"Annabeth. Is it really that bad? From all of the accounts I have received, he's a good man. He loves his mother and father, and he's always trying to help people. He's not exactly ugly either." Chiron supplied helpfully, eyes twinkling.

Annabeth sighed in frustration, but she had to concede with Chiron's assessment. The prince was constantly known for doing charity work, and she was sure there was much more he did that wasn't even in the papers. He wore his heart on his sleeve, and he did care. She really should have been more grateful. Percy didn't seem like one of those philandering princes, hell, he had never been photographed with a girl. He would at least respect her the entire time, she could tell by the way she treated his mother he held women in high esteem.

And yes…the final part of Chiron's words hadn't escaped her either. She had seen pictures of the prince, of course, had seen the adoring fangirls that flocked in the streets at an attempt to get a look at him. He _had_ to be handsome, it was practically in the rulebook for being a prince. She just hadn't expect the effect he'd have on her.

Annabeth prided herself on her independence, on her feistiness and ferocity. She prided herself at not being the type of woman to go all mushy over a guy's looks. But the moment the prince trained those too-green eyes on her, she felt like she was flushed all over, like she had just taken a ten-mile run and needed a break. He was even more handsome in person, that strong jawline, captivating green eyes, black hair, and tanned skin coming together to form a face that most women were helpless at.

She shook herself out of her thoughts. "Fine. But I need time to sit down with him and go over logistics. He doesn't seem like the worst guy, I agree. But you know how I like to have everything planned out."

Chiron nodded. "I expected as much. I'll let you meet with the prince soon. Go ask him. He seems nice enough to free up his schedule for you." Her mentor wheels himself to the door of the room before looking back at her. "Just remember, Annabeth. You can't plan everything."

* * *

She trudged through the hedges and rows and rows of radiant flowers to the back of the castle. The country of Mylar was incredibly prosperous, and it was obvious to Annabeth from the way even the commoners were dressed in nice clothing, and even those who were poor received all the help they need.

She found Percy in the left corner of the garden, sparring with his instructor. She frowned. _Sword fighting?_ Seemed a little weird, but ok. All thoughts disappeared when she saw him fight. Percy was clearly excellent, parrying and sidestepping all the jabs and blows his instructor gave him without difficulty. His stance seemed good, and he didn't even seem exhausted. The clang of blades jolted Annabeth out of watching him, and she made her way forward once more, just in time to see Percy touch the tip of his sword to his instructor's shoulder. "I win," he proclaimed triumphantly.

"So it seems, your Majesty." The instructor threw Percy a water bottle and towel before seeing Annabeth, giving her a small smile and nod before walking away. Percy turned and wiped the towel over his face, breaking out into a small, polite smile as he saw her.

"Miss Chase," he said, bowing his head before taking a sip of water.

"You were excellent, Your Majesty," Annabeth said, instead of replying. "I prefer knives myself, but I can see where your skills might be appreciated. You are extremely quick on your feet."

He smiled at her once more, but this time it was genuine, and the effect was instantaneous. It was a bit like staring at the sun behind the clouds, and she feared for her mental health if she ever got to see the full effect of his smile. "Thank you," he replied sincerely, tipping his head forward. "Clearly, you seem to be as well educated and well trained as Mr. Brunner claimed you were. I take that as an extremely high compliment from someone like you, Miss Chase."

Annabeth tried not to let his words wash over her _too_ much and offered him a small smile in return. "I know all the information thrown at you this morning was a bit shocking. I came to you wondering if we could discuss it and maybe work together to help each other out. We're gonna have to spend a lot of time together these next few weeks, and I see no reason that we can't be friends, or at least try to get along."

The prince smiled at her, andーyup, she was right, it was like the sun shining down on her. "Yeah, I'm always up for meeting new people."

The prince led her away from the training center and to the middle of the garden, where there were plenty of circular, stone tables with matching benches for people to sit at. "Would you like anything?" he offered kindly, but she shook her head as they took a seat at the center table.

"Your Majesty-" she stopped as he held up a hand.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," he started, and Annabeth decided to forgive him because he did look pretty sorry. "Don't call me your majesty. It'll be a little weird if the paper gets wind of that. Please. It's just Percy."

Annabeth smiled at him. "Then it's just Annabeth for me. Anyways, I was thinking that we needed to develop a story, you know? We might get interviewed and we will get spotted, and once we are noticed we will need to release an official statement. We need a story."

Percy nodded. "You seem pretty smart. I'm not really sure what to do."

"Well, basically we just need to make it as believable as possible. Clearly, we can just say that we've been seeing each other for a little bit and that we're just starting to go public with our relationship."

Percy grinned at her, which made her feel a little lightheaded, so she looked down so she didn't get too distracted. "We have to have to meet somewhere." He snapped his fingers. "The beach. Everyone knows I love the beach, and I like to go really early in the morning. We can say that we met while we were both on the beach one morning, and then we were friends for a while and started dating."

"Damn, Percy. Didn't peg you for such a romantic," Annabeth teased, silently pleased at the way his cheeks and the tips of his ears turned red. "But it'll work. It's cute. We're gonna need to seem believable as well. Like we're comfortable with each other, we know each other. I'm dedicated so keeping you safe Percy, not only cause it's my job, but because you seem like a good guy. The world needs more good guys."

Percy scratched his head, looking confused. "I get you, I get what you're saying. Here, how about this, you meet me at the grand ballroom tonight, we'll do a mock date in the kitchens, learn a little about each other. Dinner and a walk through the gardens."

Annabeth smiled. "You're sweet. Ok, why not?"

"Great." Percy flashed that grin at her once more. "Meet in the ballroom at 8, and wear something nice."

* * *

Percy fiddled with his tie. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, Annabeth was quite intriguing, and he genuinely did want to get to know her. Another time, another place, he would have asked her out.

He stuffed his hands into his jacket pocket and stared out the window. He want really sure if this mission was going to go anywhere, or get any genuine results, but he had to go along with it, if only to help his mother. He knew how much she worried about him, and he loved her too much to not do anything. He would do this for her.

Percy sighed and raked his hands through his hair, before the sound of a door opening caused him to swivel around, facing the opposite direction. The large oak doors opened and Annabeth walked in.

Percy physically had to make sure his mouth wasn't wide open as he stared at her. She wore a wonderful green dress, strapless and short so it fell mid thigh. Her blonde hair curled around her face beautifully and her grey eyes seemed almost green with the dress. It showed off her wonderful legs and he had to try his best to stop himself from ogling her.

"Wow," he said softly, as she walked towards him. The heels she was wearing made her taller, but not by too much, so he could still look down on her a bit.

"Don't get too used to it, Seaweed Brain. I hate dresses, but I do know how to dress up for a date."

"Seaweed Brain?" he questioned.

"Yeah, well, you mentioned you loved the beach and I like giving my friends nicknames."

"Ok, Wise Girl," he retaliated, but winced.

She raised an eyebrow but simply shook her head. "You need a little bit of work with your nicknames, Percy. Let's go." She offered him her arm and he looped hers through it. He noticed that Annabeth seemed especially taken by the ballroom and hallways as they walked through her palace, her eyes open in wonder and taking everything in.

"You like the palace?" He mentally berated himself for his question. Of course she liked the palace. That was quite obvious.

"It's amazing," she breathed. "I love how the rooms flow into each other and it's so open. It's clearly inspired by water, and I like it a lot." Seeing Percy's confused look, she explained, "I always liked architecture. If I hadn't become a bodyguard, I'd want to be an architect, build something permanent and lasting."

"That's uh, kinda amazing," Percy murmured. "Well, here we are."

Annabeth gaped as she took everything in, and Percy felt a rush of satisfaction as her eyes blew wide open. He had arranged for the all the lights in the garden to be dim and candles to be lit on the table. "You're a ridiculous romantic aren't you, Percy Jackson?"

Percy grinned sheepishly. "What can I say. Come on, take a seat."

Annabeth let go of his arm and walked over to the table. She traced her fingers along the fine china plates and smiled. "Please tell me we're not eating something too ridiculous. I'm from New York, I don't like ridiculous food."

Percy grinned. "Girl after my own heart. Take a look." He gestured to the center of the table and waited for Annabeth to lift up the food cover. When she did, she let out a surprised laugh, something that made Percy's heart race ridiculously quickly.

"Perfection. Spaghetti and meatballs. Makes me a little homesick."

"You said New York was home?" Percy said, taking a seat across from her and putting some food on their plates.

She nodded. "Yeah, and I miss it every day. There's really no place on Earth quite like New York City. Every time I go there, it's like I see a new city, and I can never get bored with it, especially seeing it through someone else's eyes. I always like showing my friend around when they visit."

"It's always been my dream to visit New York," Percy admitted, taking a bite of his food.

Annabeth's eyes lit up. "It's really amazing. You ever find yourself in the city, and you need a tour guide, let me know. I could never get tired of seeing it over and over again. I love architecture as well, and there's not a single building in the city that's boring."

Percy smiled at her. "You'll have to take me sometime and let me see how amazing it is. I've never even left Mylar, ever. I mean, It's gorgeous, almost completely surrounded by water, I love it. But I'd like to see someone place new as well."

Percy learned a lot about in the hour they sat at the table, talking. He learned she was 25, the same age as him, that she was born on July 12th, almost exactly a month before he was, she had three dogs named Clo, Ariadne, and Amelia that she adored, she was scary smart and crazy loyal, and that she had a best friend she'd do just about anything for.

"Come on," he said, standing up and offering her his arm. "I promised you a walk, didn't I?"

Annabeth tossed her napkin on the table and stood up, grabbing her purse and linking his arm through his. "You know, for someone who claims to be pretty hopeless when it come so dating and love, Seaweed Brain, you sure know how to treat a girl to a date."

"Would you laugh if I said that I asked my mom for a ridiculous amount of help?"

Annabeth laughed brightly. "I should've known. The great Prince Percy is a mess around women who aren't his mother, am I right?"

Percy used the arm that wasn't looped through Annabeth's to scratch the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Uh, I can't lose the cool I have."

"You already have none, Seaweed Brain. Might just admit it now and save what little dignity you have left."

"I'm ok with women who aren't trying to flirt with me," Percy pointed out. "You're not, so I'm good."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow as they crossed past the roses bushes. "Aren't most women trying to flirt with a prince?"

"Yeah, that was kinda my point. You don't flirt with me, you're not embarrassed to be around me, therefore I am not a mess."

"Oh Percy, you're always a mess," Annabeth laughed, eyes twinkling. "You couldn't handle it if I tried flirting with you, Seaweed Brain."

Percy held up the branches of a tree for Annabeth to duck under as they made their way out of the garden. "Wow, thanks."

"Where are we going, Percy?" Annabeth glanced around, but it seemed like they were in the forest, a dark path in front of her. The moon was blocked by the leaves too, they were in near total darkness, He could barely see the silver glint of her hair.

"The beach," he answered simply, moving his arm out of hers and instead lacing their fingers together. He pulled her along the path for a few minutes before they burst out of the forest.

Percy hear the ocean before he saw it; the sound of waves crashing against the beach was like coming home. He loved the smell of the sea, he loved the water and he loved being away from the palace and just being around the ocean.

Annabeth gaped at the sight of the ocean in the night. The water was an inky black and the moon glittered high in the sky. It was chilly because of the wind, but the foam and the same felt wonderful.

"It's beautiful. How come no one knows about this passage through the forest?" She walked forward and kicked off her shoes, digging her toes into the soft white sand.

"Side effect of being a hyperactive child who hated studying," Percy remarked, a growing smile spreading across his face. "Sometimes, whenever there's a problem in my life, I just come here and sit. But I usually come here because I love it so much, and it's incredibly relaxing."

"Damn," Annabeth murmured, gazed fixed on the horizon, which was nearly indistinguishable from the ocean. "My nicknaming skills are so much more spot on than I assumed."

Percy shoved her with his shoulder, causing her to stumble forward a bit. She tripped and fell forward into the surf, as they had been walking toward the ocean this entire time She picked herself up, sopping wet ,and turned her eyes on him. He gulped, seeing them turn a dark shade of grey, thunderstorm clouds. Crap. They had already established that she was not the type of girl you wanted to piss off.

Percy just smiled sheepishly and ran a hand through his messy hair once more, when he noticed the growing smirk on her face.

He quickly backed up, holding his hands in front of him placating. "Um, if you kill me, you won't ever get to see the best part of the beach."

Annabeth pretended to think about that. "I can live with myself," she shrugged, before lunging at him suddenly.

Percy scrambled away, running as fast as he could. Which, he was aware, was really not that fast, but he was going to prolong his death anyway he could. He hoped the fact that Annabeth was soaked in seawater would slow her down, but apparently not. He stumbled as he felt a small body launch into his back, soaking through his jacket.

"Got you, Jackson," she whispered in his ear, plastering herself closer to him so all the water on her body would soak to his. He shivered at the feeling of her lips brushing his ear, but shrugged her off and turned to face her.

"Rule number one. Don't ever bet against you, huh?" He felt cold as the wind brushed against his soaking back, but sent a warm smile at her.

"And here I thought you learned that a long time ago, Seaweed Brain." She smirked and ran a hand through her dripping hair. "You're dead tomorrow morning. Maybe I'll just happen to "accidentally" shock you with my taser. I'm too lazy to try and kill you right now."

Percy smiled. "Come on. If you're done plotting various ways to kill me, I have something I want to show you. Again."

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, but followed him as they trudged through the sand. "Again, Seaweed Brain? How many tricks do you have up your sleeve?"

Percy just smirked. "You'd be surprised, Wise Girl." They reached a rocky outcrop and Percy scrambled up it, carefully navigating the sharp rocks. Once he was at the top, he turned to find Annabeth right behind him. She had tossed her shoes onto the bottom of the pile of rocks when she had begun to climb, but she was graceful and careful enough that she didn't have any trouble scurrying up the boulders. She looked up to meet his eyes, and stepped forward, but Percy noticed she was about to step on a sharp rock with her bare feet.

Quickly, his arm shot out to stop her. Annabeth furrowed her brows in confusion before she realise what he was looking at. "Thanks, Percy," she commented, placing her leg back on the original rock as she was standing on and looking for the right place to put it.

"No problem," he said easily, waiting for her to finish her ascent.

Her dress, which had begun to dry, brushed against his knees as she stood beside him. "I'm ready. You better not disappoint me, otherwise you're gonna get a very bad review on your fan pages."

Percy just stuck his tongue out at her like he was 5, not 25, and brushed aside the canopy of vines that covered the rocky outcrop they were standing in front of. Most people assumed that there was just solid rock behind this, but Percy knew better.

"Oh my god," Annabeth muttered, standing next to him. "It's gorgeous."

They were standing on the shore of a rocky cove, completely hidden from the outside world save from the way in which they had come in. The water in the cove was illuminated by a glowing substance underneath the floor of the pool, and turned the water the exact floor of Percy's eyes. It was warm to the touch and silent.

Annabeth walked toward and unceremoniously flopped on the edge of the pool, dangling her legs in. Percy joined her, kicking off his shoes and letting his dress pants get wet. "It's warm and lit up somehow, but I'm not really sure how that works. It's always been like that, ever since I found it."

Annabeth nods. "My best guess is that this is a hot spring, and underneath the pool there's some magma that's nearer to the surface than usual. This keeps the water warm and pleasant."

"You know everything, don't you?" he said, watching her face rather than the pool. She was staring at a spot on the wall, lost in her thoughts.

"Not everything. But I do admit, I liked reading as a kid, even with my dyslexia. You're dyslexic too, right?" He nodded as she looked over at him, eyes crinkling as she smiled. "Yeah, it was hard, but I managed to push through it. Growing up in New York, training constantly and school at the center whenever I wasn't training or eating didn't leave a lot of time free. I used to stay up really late reading books in the library, which was ridiculously pretty for a place that barely used it."

Percy frowned. "You grew up with Brunner? What about your parents?" Instantly, he knew he had said something wrong. Annabeth's back stiffened, and she wouldn't look him in the eye turning her head to the side. He could see her jaw clench slightly. Clearly, he had brought something up that wasn't comfortable for her. "I'm sorry if I said something wrong," he apologised, setting a hand on her bare arm. "I don't really think before I speak. Never have."

"It's fine," she said, her tone detached. She got up, letting Percy's arm fall beside him. "We should head back. It's getting late and we've got a really big day tomorrow."

Percy's eyebrows scrunched together as he watched her exit the cove, but he swung his legs up out of the pool and followed her. She was staring at the moon, arms wrapped around herself. Percy wisely chose not to say anything and let her take the lead as she climbed down, slipping on her shoes as she waited for him.

The walk back was tense and full of silence; he didn't dare say anything that might've made her as mad as his comment about her family. When they reached the palace once more, she turned to him. "Thanks for the date, Percy. It really was nice. Take all of your girlfriends out like this and you'll leave a string of broken hearts behind." She smiled at him, but her eyes were still unsettlingly troubled, before turning around and walking away.

Percy frowned. The night had been great… until he managed to fuck it up, like he did everything else in his life. He stuffed his hands in his pockets before walking away.

* * *

Annabeth sighed as she shut the door to her bedroom behind her. She leaned against it, sand still on her legs and her hair smelling of salt. She felt bad about the way she had just written Percy off when he had asked that question, but it was just something incredibly painful she didn't like to be reminded of. She made her way to the bathroom, stripping off her dress (which was still a bit soaked) onto the tiled floor.

The warm water cascaded over her and she scrubbed at her body furiously, trying to ease that night from her mind. She leaned against the shower wall, groaning.

Why was she _so_ bad at human interaction? Why couldn't she act like a normal person? Her behavior had probably scared off the only friend she'd managed to make since she landed in this country a month ago. Even if she had to pretend to be in love with Percy for the foreseeable future, he at least didn't seem like an awful person, and if she was being honest with herself, she would like to spend more time with him.

She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, rubbing her hair with a towel while she wrapped another one around herself.

Annabeth dressed and flopped down on her couch, switching on Netflix and wrapping a blanket around herself. She didn't even pay attention to the show, her mind drifting off.

"I am such an idiot," she said to no one in the dark, quiet room.

Wait, she knew who she could talk to. Annabeth pulled her wet hair into a bun and leaned forward, grabbing her laptop off the coffee table. Opening it up, she clicked on the Skype call, and soon, her best friend's face popped up.

Piper sighed, pushing her tangled brown hair out of her eyes. "What did you fuck up this time?"

Annabeth's mouth dropped open. ""Excuse me! Why are you assuming that I'm calling you because I messed up?"

Piper glanced at the corner of the screen. "Because it's 11 o'clock in the morning here in LA, and you never call me at such a weird time. Usually it's early in the morning or late at night to update me on what happens. The only time you call me around midday is if you fucked something up. Granted, it's not common, at least." Piper raised her eyebrows as she took a sip of her coffee.

Annabeth rubbed a hand over her face. "Ok, yes, I fucked up."

"Hey Annabeth," a voice said off screen. Jason poked his head into the shot before disappearing once more.

"Hi Jason," she said tiredly, head dropping back against the clinch as she closed her eyes, trying to quiet the throbbing in her head.

"Annabeth," Piper said quietly, "what happened?"

Annabeth caught Piper up on everything that had happened since she had arrive in Mylar. Piper has been Annabeth's friend since they had trained together in the bodyguard business. Piper was currently working for some movie actress in Los Angeles, and was the only other person besides Brunner and herself that Annabeth trusted to have her back. (at least, in the field)

"And then I got all weird when he brought up my family, cut off our date and basically ran in here," she finished, getting up and putting the laptop of her coffee table. Piper's voice ran out from the device as she walked into the kitchen.

"You're fake-dating the drop dead gorgeous prince of one of the richest countries in the world? Can't wait to see how this is gonna crash and burn," she scoffed.

Annabeth walked out of the kitchen, clutching an spoon in one hand and a carton of ice cream in the other. "Oh, fuck you," she snapped, settling back down on the couch and pulling the laptop a little closer to herself. She pried the lid off the ice cream and jabbed the spoon in.

"Annabeth," her best friend said, a note of hurt in her voice. Annabeth sent her a small smile in lieu of apology, and the hurt look on Piper's face melted away.

"He's actually a really decent guy, Piper. I'm worried I'm gonna hurt him. You know everyone around is me is gonna get hurt by me, sooner or later. I mean, I just hurt you and I've known you for almost 20 years." She sighed and dug her spoon deeper into the ice cream, shovelling some into her mouth.

"Annabeth, you're not gonna hurt him. Look," Piper started, shuffling around. "I know how badly your parentsーall three of themーmessed you up. My parents were the same. Your home life was horrible. You don't have to tell anyone about that if you're not ready to or if you don't want them. As long as you're nice to this guy, I'm sure he'll get it," she insisted.

Annabeth sighed. "You're right, as always. It's already gonna be hard to pretend to be in love with this guy. The last thing I want to do is be a horrible friend."

Piper smirked. "Is he really as hot as he looks in pictures?"

"Hotter," she conceded gloomily, brushing wayward strands of blonde hair out of her face. "It's ridiculously unfair, but, well."

"I'm just so proud of you for getting yourself into this situation. Badass Annabeth Chase, bodyguard slash fake girlfriend of the royal prince of Mylar."

"Stop getting a kick out of this, Piper," she blurted.

"Send me daily updates. Watching you two is gonna be like a train wreck." Piper paused for a second. "Is that too morbid? Car crash? Boat explosion? High school?"

"Try not to bring up high school again," Annabeth warned, getting off the couch once more to now chuck the empty carton in the trash.

"Yeah, can't say I disagree with that," Piper shrugged, a small chuckle escaping her. "Be safe, ok Annie? You know I worry."

Annabeth sent Piper a genuine smile. "You too. Take care of yourself and Jason. I want to make sure I have my best friend to hug when I get home."

"You'll get that. Love you."

"Love you too," she replied disconnecting the call and shutting the laptop after. The roaring in her brain had subsided a little bit. Piper always helped. But she was still so nervous about this, this, _whatever_ she had with Percy.

Annabeth groaned and flopped face down on her couch, waking up her dogs, which had been sleeping in the corner of the living room this whole time. Ariadne and Clo rose and nuzzled her face, causing her to turn her head to face them, while Amelia simply hopped on the couch and laid down on her owner's back. "Hey guys." She reached a hand out and scratched underneath Ariadne's chin, while Clo whined and put her head on the cushion next to Annabeth. "Why can't everyone be as simple as you guys, huh?" she laughed.

The lab, Clo, simply barked in response while Ariadne, the husky, licked Annabeth's face. Her smallest dog, Amelia, who was a terrier, was probably already fast asleep on top of her. Annabeth managed to extract her arm from underneath her body and move her body onto her legs, so she could at least twist around and pick the puppy up. She placed the dog on her stomach and stroked the soft fur, lost in her thoughts.

:~:

A knock on the door jolted Annabeth awake. She glanced around hazily, trying to get her bearings before remembering she was in the palace. Apparently she had fallen asleep on her couch, dogs asleep on either side of her and one on top of her.

The knock sounded again, and she just managed to catch herself before falling, rudely awakening Amelia, who barked in indignation.

"Sorry honey," she apologized, picking the dog up and holding her in her hands. Amelia snuggled into the crook of her arms as Annabeth got up, taking care not to trip over the other dogs that were on the floor/couch. She glanced at the clock as she made her way to the door. It was pretty early, only 6:30, but Annabeth was usually up and ready for the day around 7, so she wasn't tired.

Still, she knew she wasn't tired anymore when she opened her door to find the queen behind it.

"Your Majesty!" she stammered, going to set the dog down. The queen simply placed a hand on her arm.

"It's alright, sweetie. I just wanted to speak with you, for a moment, if that's alright. I see I've woken you up. I can come back another time, if that's better for you."

Annabeth shook her head. "No, of course it's alright now. I was just about to wake up anyways. Please, come in.

The queen stepped into the room, dressed in a pretty blouse and a pair of dark jeans, she looked more like the regular women in New York. She was stunning, though, with pretty brown hair and a warm smile that felt like home. It wasn't difficult for Annabeth to see why Percy adored her.

"Precious little thing," the queen said, smiling at the dog still in Annabeth's arms. She reached out to pet the animal, who took to her easily and started licking at her hands.

Annabeth made her way to the couch, where her husky was still sleeping, and where her lab was right near. "Sorry about the other dogs. They're really well behaved, though, so just leave them be. Amelia just likes to be held a lot." Annabeth set down her dog in between her and the queen, who also took a seat.

"Annabeth," she laughed. It's fine, trust me. I love dogs."

"Thanks,Your Majesty." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about the mess," she offered, looking at the blanket tossed over the edge of the couch and the laptop on the coffee table.

"You know something, Annabeth," the queen started, stroking Amelia's back. "People are so focused on my title, queen, that they forget I was born and grew up in New York City. Please, just call me Sally. And don't worry about the mess. I grew up poor."

Annabeth smiled. "Well then, Queen Sally, what did you come to talk to me about? I'm afraid I can't come up with much."

"You know I love my son, more than anyone else in the entire world. But the boy can be a little… slow. He won't exactly always be the most shrewd with his feelings, or the feelings of people around him, even though he does wear his heart on his sleeve." Queen Sally paused and gave Annabeth a look. "And I just want to make sure that he doesn't get hurt, or that he doesn't hurt anyone else."

Annabeth blushed. "Your Majestyー"

"I've looked at your record, Annabeth," she interrupted, cutting Annabeth off. "It's quite impressive. Top of your class, off the charts logical and strategic planning, but I think I liked that you always went with your gut, and almost 100% of the time, it worked out for you. But your history was also available to us."

Annabeth looked down at the ground as her hands tightened around each other in her lap. "Your Majesty, I can understand why you wouldn't want someone like me protecting your son and being so close with him. Some of my previous employers have had problems with my past. I get it if you do."

"No, sweetie, that's not what I meant. No child should have to go what you went through, ever. It's horrible, and awful, and I can understand why you wouldn't want to share that with the world. I don't even know any of the details. I just saw the first sentence and shut the folder. But I also know that it's hard for you when dealing with other people. Like last night," she pressed, softly.

Annabeth's head snapped up, blonde curls whipping everywhere. "How do you know about last night?"

"I stopped my son in the hallway on the way back from you room and he looked pretty worried. I know he must have said something that could be misinterpreted."

"I am so, so sorry, Your Majesty, Really, it's not Percy's fault, all of it is mine. I got weird and left him, and I really shouldn't have. I need to go and apologize."

"You don't need to be sorry about how you acted, Annabeth," the queen reassured her. "But I know my son, and I know that he's already worried about you. Just explain, just a little, so he doesn't freak out, put him at ease." She suggested, rising up. "Thank you, Annabeth, for just letting me talk to you about him."

Annabeth followed the queen to the door, leaning against the door as she opened it, "No, it was my pleasure. Thanks for helping me figure some of this out."

The queen laughed. "You two are gonna be interesting to watch."

* * *

Percy woke up to the sound of pots and pans hitting the floor. He poked his head of his room to find a footman picking up an empty tray, all the other silverware scattered around the floor. He rushed to help the young man, but the sound of footsteps from the other direction halted his steps, and he turned around to find his father approaching him.

"Father," he acknowledged with a nod, waiting for the man.

"Good morning, Percy. I see you have slept in, as usual," Poseidon said pointedly, nodding to Percy's rumpled t-shirt and shorts.

Percy just shrugged and leaned against the doorway. "I wouldn't exactly call 7 sleeping in, but whatever. What's up?"

"Meet your mother and I, Mr. Brunner, and your bodyguard in the dining room for breakfast in thirty minutes. Be prompt and well dressed." he stated, rather sharply, before turning around and walking away. Percy rolled his eyes and walked back into his room. He loved his father, he really did, but it really was his mom who he could talk to about anything.

Twenty minutes later, Percy walked into the dining room dressed in dark jeans and a blue shirt. He found his parents seated at the head of table and Chiron right near them, so he walked over. His father was reading the newspaper while his mother was writing something down on her phone; she most likely had some meeting or other this week for one of the various boards she was a part of. Percy flopped in his chair and stared at the satin tablecloth, already bored out of his mind. His leg kept bouncing up and down, no matter how many warning looks his mother shot at him.

"What are we doing here anyways?" he shot out, unable to keep quiet for any longer.

"You need to be debriefed on this relationship thing that you and Annabeth are going to have," his mother answered for him. "So we're having you both meet the PR person, and she's gonna debrief you both on how this is going to work."

Just then, Annabeth walked in, hair tied up into a ponytail. She was dressed similarly to him, except her blouse was white. She offered Percy a small smile before going over next to him, sitting next to him and opposite Mr. Brunner. "Good morning."

He offered a wary one back, but she simply sent him a smile and greeted her mentor and his parents, before turning back to him. "I'll explain everything really soon. Just know that I'm sorry," she muttered in a low voice so that only he could hear. Percy nodded, though his mind was racing. Soon, however, it was occupied by the clicking of high heels that entered the room.

Percy turned around in his seat to see a striking young woman walk in. She had long black air, stunning blue eyes, and porcelain skin. Dressed in a pantsuit, he guessed that this as the PR person his parents had hired to help him and Annabeth through their fake relationship.

"Hi there," she greeted them brightly, walking over. "Your Majesties," she said, nodding at his parents. "And you must be Annabeth Chase. I'm Silena Beauregard. I was hired to help you two figure out the difficulties of navigating such an intensely high profile relationship."

Annabeth shot the girl a weak smile. "Yeah, I'm not really used to being such an active face for the public. Pretty much anything you can do would be a big help."

Silena offered them a bright smile, and Percy decided that he liked her already. She sat down opposite Percy, next to Mr. Brunner, as the waiters started bringing in the food. Percy put pancakes on his plate, covering them with syrup, as Annabeth piled hers with fruit and an omelette.

"As you two know, this relationship is for PR purposes only. However, that does not mean that this relationship can look fake. It must look real. We must sell this idea of you two as a happy couple in love to the public. If they don't believe it, we'll never get anywhere with this and you guys won't be able to figure out who's targeting Percy. But I want you two to understand something." For the first time since she had entered, Silena's bright smile vanished from her face, and a completely serious look took over. "You will not be loved by everyone. It's just not possible, and there are going to be _many_ people who bash and tear you down. Especially you, Annabeth. You're a commoner and you're a sudden relationship. You will be an vulnerable target. I need to know if you can handle this."

Annabeth sat straight up in her chair, and Percy saw her eyes darken a little bit so they looked less like silver and more like storm clouds. "Of course I can handle it. I was trained to take plenty of punches, of all kinds."

Silena nodded. "Alright. Now, here's my plan. In about a month, the annual gala for the nation is going to be held here in the palace. That is where you two will make your debut as an actual couple. Not only will it be a classy, formal event, but there are going to be innumerable important people there; journalists, nobility, celebrities, that we can use to verify that you two are a couple. However, we can't start there. We're gonna go small, a sighting here or there, a casual remark, and once the gala hits, then you guys will start to have a million things coming up. Interviews, photos, comments, followers, everything is going to become insane. So right no we're gonna take it slowly so that you two don't lose your minds trying to figure this stuff out. That's my job."

Percy and Annabeth nodded, sending each other a look. "We already went out, if that's any help."

"Yes, actually it's a great help. What we're trying to achieve here, in these next two months is actually just a sort of closeness for you two. Since you're gonna be watched pretty closely, we need to make this real. So, for the next two months, you two are going to spend as much time as possible together. I want to see you two together, learning about each other. You might not fall in love, but you damn well better be best friends," she insisted, leaning forward.

Percy gulped, but felt fingers lace through his own underneath the table. When he glanced over at Annabeth, she looked at his face before back at Silena. "We won't let you down. We got this."

Twenty minutes later, Percy wasn't so completely sure of that. It was just him and Annabeth in the sitting room with Silena; his parents were off actually governing the nation, and things were radio silent. She sat opposite him and was writing something down, while Silena was next to him as he fiddled with something on his phone.

"Uh, what exactly is the point of us being here?" he questioned.

"I just need to finish one thing up and then we can get started. Both of you need to have a good relationship going at this point, so I'm gonna give you guys pointers on how to act in public once we start leaking photos out. Later, when you guys go public and we'll have interviews, we'll talk about how to conduct yourself there and deal with that crap." Silena shut her book and Annabeth stopped writing.

"Ok, the number one thing to remember in public to always be gracious to everyone you meet. I don't care how much the paparazzi annoys you, once you establish yourself as a troublesome and tempered person, you can never fully get back the nice image you have before. You two are gonna act like any couple out on a date, and I will act as the paparazzi with the camera."

Annabeth came over and sat next to Percy, leaning into him slightly as he gave her a small smile. "This is by far the weirdest thing I've ever had to do," she laughed.

"Same. I've never had a real girlfriend, I seriously don't know why my parents thought I could somehow pull off having a fake one when I don't even know how to act around women. I told you this, you know this. It's kinda sad, honestly, that they have so much blind faith in me." he joked, sliding his arm around her shoulders. Faintly, he heard the sound of pictures being snapped.

"I don't think I said it, but I just wanted to apologize for last night I'm not sorry that I didn't tell you, because I don't think anyone knows, but I am sorry for suddenly treating you really badly and closing off. I could have been more polite about the situation. Talking about my family is a pretty sore spot for me. Right now, they really consist of my best friend Piper, Chiron, and my three dogs."

Percy frowned. "You know it's ok you didn't tell me. I don't need to know, ever, unless you need someone to tell. I'm not that guy."

"I know you're not," she smiled. "I didn't think you were. But I am surprised to find that you're the kinda guy who would go along with this whole charade."

"Anything for my mother," he shrugged. It really was that simple, and it always would be.

"You really love her. That's cool, you know. Not many men who would so openly admit they love their mother. Men who do, that's exceedingly attractive to women."

Percy laughed. "Well, then I must have women lined up around the block."

"You do," Annabeth pointed out, smiling at him. "You're handsome, athletic, kind, a literal prince, if all those qualities didn't make you one already."

"I'm also lazy, messy, got about a million a half pimples that I still deal with, and snap at people for no particular reason other than they happen to be right there," he pointed out. "I'm not as great as people think I am."

"None of us are as great as we wish we could be, Percy. Especially not me. But, at least you have people who genuinely like you. Just because you don't date women often doesn't mean you're unattractive or not great. It means you're looking." As she spoke, a red blush spread down her face, and when she was done, she looked down at her lap, embarrassed to look him right in the eye.

Percy laced their fingers together so much like she had done at the breakfast table. "You should be a motivational speaker or something, I feel pretty good right now." It was nice to have someone's hand in his. Hers wasn't soft like he had expected a woman's hand to be, but rather callused an strong, but nicely. He liked it.

Annabeth chuckled. "Really missed my true calling going into protective services, huh?" She wrapped an arm around his wait and leaned into him, she could put her head on his shoulder. "This is gonna be pretty hard."

"Yeah. Grover's expecting us to crash and burn in like a month, so I need to win the money from this bet."

* * *

Annabeth looked up from the book she was reading on her bed when she heard a knock at the door. Setting it down, she walked out of her bedroom and opened the door, slightly surprised when he came face to face with Percy.

"Hey," she stammered, taken aback. He was leaning against the door and smiled at her.

"Hi." Like her, Percy was dressed in sleep clothes, which was appropriate considering it was almost 1 in the morning.

"What are you doing here so late?" She crossed her arms and cocked her head.

"Uh, well," he stuttered. His hand came up to rub at the back of his neck and he shot her a sheepish smile.

She simply raised an eyebrow. "Spill it, Seaweed Brain. We really don't have a lot of time." She didn't even notice that her foot was tapping on the floor until she was forced to stop it.

"Well, I was thinking about how Silena was telling us how we had to spend a lot of time together. And then I realized that we wouldn't have much time to spend on our own when we weren't structured, you know, when everyone wasn't telling us what to do. So I thought I would sneak down here and see if you wanted to go exploring around the palace. I liked to do it as a kid, and I don't see why we can't do it now. This place was built hundreds and hundreds of years ago. There are definitely rooms and secret passages I don't know about."

Annabeth frowned. Going gallivanting around the house of the royal family, with the son of the royal family extremely late at night, probably breaking a multitude of rules and restrictions? Then again, she could always throw Percy under the bus if they were discovered and say that it was all him. "Eh, why not."

Percy's face lit up and he grabbed her hand, tugging her out the door suddenly. "Come on! There's so many places we could go, but I think first we should go to the kitchens. They're my favorite place in the palace."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Don't you have everything cooked and delivered to you? Why would you have any reason for knowing where the kitchens are?"

"I'm not _that_ spoiled. Plus, my mom always liked to bake, before she married my dad. She taught me how to. I can't count the number of cookies I must have burned."

Percy tugged Annabeth into the stainless steel kitchen, which was pitch black, and flicked on the lights. She realized his hand was still intertwined with hers, but decided she liked it. The kitchen was giant, and she felt a little lost as she looked around.

"Come on. I'm bored. We should make those cookies, and then we can eat them!" Percy smiled brightly at her, and this was so, _so_ , bad for her sanity, but she was gonna go along with it anyways. She had barely nodded once before he was tugging her to the back corner, where there seemed to be a baking subsection of the entire place.

Percy opened the fridge and started pulling out eggs, butter, vanilla, and countless other things Annabeth couldn't even try to name. Then, he went over to the pantry and pulled out sugar, flour, baking soda, and chocolate chips, with, weirdly enough, blue food coloring.

He turned around and noticed her raised eyebrow at the food color, and, kicking the pantry door closed with his foot, explained, "I am obsessed with the color blue, and when I was little, I went through this phase where I didn't eat anything that wasn't blue, so they were forced to tint all my meals blue. I grew out of it, obviously, but I still like my mom's cookies blue."

Percy set to work, mixing together plenty of the ingredients, while Annabeth stood there, feeling a little useless. "Um, how can I help?"

He glanced over at her. "Oh, you can just start by mixing the dry ingredients together. Uh, wait." Percy stopped his whisking of the eggs and went over the a drawer, pulling it open and rifling through various papers. Quickly, he pulled one out and handed it to Annabeth. "That's the recipe. I don't need it, though. I've made these too many times."

Annabeth mixed together the dry ingredients, and watched as Percy folded the dry and wet ones together. Soon, the dough formed, and he took it out of the bowl to work the chocolate chips into it.

"Here. This is really straightforward. Why don't you try?" He handed her the dough and the bowl of chocolate chips.

"Um, ok." she said. Annabeth spread the dough out and placed the chips in, before she started kneading it so they all worked together. She could tell, however, that she wasn't doing it correctly.

"Here," Percy said, taking a hold of her hands. She could feel him bracketing her against the counter and she closed her eyes, controlling her breathing and most certainly _not_ focusing on the fact that he smelled like the sea.

He gently placed her fingers on the dough and pushed firmly into the counter. "You have to let it know who's boss. If it's not kneaded well, the cookies won't work the way their supposed. I'm sure you don't have any difficulty bossing people around. You'll be a natural at this."

Annabeth took a hand off the dough and elbowed Percy, making him stumble back and shoot a grin at her. She tried to glare at him, but she couldn't help letting a smile slip through. "Shut it, Jackson. I might be your bodyguard and fake girlfriend, but I don't have to be down here."

"Yeah, but you're not leaving now," Percy drawled easily, leaning back against the counter and crossing his arms. Annabeth tried to not linger on the way the muscles became more prominent, desperately keeping her eyes on his face. "There are cookies now. You like food too much to leave."

She stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to the dough. "You know, I seem to recall you promising me that you would help, at least, partially. I don't appreciate it when people break their promises."

Percy pretended to think this over, sending her a smirk. "That I did. But, I've realized that I am very lazy right now and really, there's not much else for me to do but watch you."

"Don't got enough girls around the palace you can bother?" she said lightly, masking the way her stomach flipped at his words.

"Nah, you're just the most interesting of them." Percy smiled at her, a really genuine smile一he seriously needed to stop doing that if she didn't want to go blind, but whatever一and took the dough from her, ripping off pieces and forming them into little balls before placing them on the sheet. She did the same, watching him intently.

"What?" He seemed to shrink under her gaze, so she left him off the hook (mildly) and turned her attention down to the countertop.

"Nothing. You're just remarkably different from what I was expecting." She shrugged and reached into the dough, ripping off a small piece and popping it into her mouth.

He scrunched his eyebrows. "Really? How so?"

"Well, for one, I was expecting someone who looked princely, not someone with too messy hair and the weirdest sense of humor ever." Percy pretended to look insulted at that and dug his fingers into her sides quickly, causing her to shriek and jump about two feet in the air. She glared at him as he doubled over laughing, and snapped, "shut up. But honestly, besides that, I don't really know what else I was expecting. Certainly not a boy who openly loves his mother so much. It's nice to see. Not someone who can bake, for sure, and definitely not someone who loves the ocean so much. I like it, though, Percy Jackson. You're better in real life." Percy gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing without and sound. Annabeth began to wonder if she stepped over the line and focused back on the cookies.

"You're not exactly who I expected either," Percy quipped, making her look him in the eyes. "For one, you're not a large, burly, bearded guy." Annabeth rolled her eyes, and elbowed him lightly. "You're much prettier," he added, seemingly offhandedly, before continuing. "Plus, you could kick my ass easily, and probably know seventeen different ways to kill a man with your bare hands, and you like food, especially pizza and cookies, you love New York City, and you have a bleeding heart you try to hide. Your best friend lives 9000 miles away and you miss her more than you'll ever admit. And you value loyalty."

Annabeth tried to hide the light pink tint that appeared at the tips of her ears. "You make me sound much better than I am, Jackson. But you forgot something, Jackson. I hate broken promises, and from what I can see, I've done most of the work for these cookies and if they get burnt, that's on me. You're gonna pay for abandoning me," she said, as she placed the cookies into the oven and turned them on, closing it and facing Percy once more.

He smirked. "What are you gonna do, judo-flip me?"

She shrugged as she walked towards him, his eyes never leaving her face. "If it comes, to that, yeah. But you forgot something really important, Percy. I've been doing this for years. I know how to clock every entrance in the place, how to spot threats, what ordinary things can be used as weapons." She smirked at him, before reaching around and grabbing the flour, upending it all over his head. Percy blinked as she darted away from him, absolutely covered in the white powder.

"Oh, it's on." He grabbed the carton of eggs and lobbed one at her shape, which he could barely see, because the flour was still in his eyes.

Annabeth jumped as the egg hit her back and shattered, spreading gooey yolk and whites down her back. In retaliation, she grabbed the sugar and chucked it at Percy, who simply lobbed another egg back at her. She laughed as Percy wiped his eyes from the flour, only too aware of the mess they had to look like.

"You're gonna get it now, Annabeth," he smirked, striding forward. She simply laughed and ran around the counter, daring Percy to come and get. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, wrapping his arms around her and smashing some butter on top of her head. "There. Now you're as messy as I am."

She wiggled out of his grasp and caught a glimpse of herself in the shiny oven. "Dear god.." she muttered, brushing the sticky strands of blonde hair out of her face. "Well, there's no way Silena can say that we don't know each other ridiculously well after this," she chuckled, trying to pick out pieces of shells that had somehow ended up in her hair.

Percy simply smirked and tugged her close by her wrist, smiling as he dragged her behind him. "We can leave the kitchen messy, they'll clean it up later." However, Annabeth pulled her wrist out of his grip and leveled a look at him.

"Look, you're a humble prince and everything, but we really have to clean this up. We made his mess." Percy pouted, and she very nearly gave in, but as she opened her mouth to say so, he sighed and nodded.

"Fine, we'll do it you way. I probably would have felt guilty and come back anyways."

They worked in silence, quickly picking up pieces of egg yolk and swiping off flour, and soon the kitchen was as clean as it had been when they entered it. The same, of course, could not be said for them.

"It's gonna take forever for all this stuff to wash out of my hair," Annabeth groaned. She and Percy were meeting Silena for their first photoshoot to "accidentally" leak the photos. There was no way she was going to let her appearance be trashed by a gossip rag because she had piece of egg yolk stuck in her hair.

"Don't worry about it," Percy said easily, swinging an arm around her shoulders as he led her out of the kitchen and down the hallway. "Flour's a good look on you anyways."

She stuck her tongue out at him and poked him in the side as they proceeded down the hall, which he simply did right back to her. They spent the rest of the journey acting like children, even at one point Annabeth forcing Percy to give her a piggyback ride the rest of the way. Far too soon for either of their liking, they reached her room. Annabeth hopped down from Percy's back and tucked a stray, sticky strand of hair behind her ear.

"Thanks for tonight. It'll definitely make everything much easier tomorrow when we have to go on another date. Much less awkward." Percy gave her that smile, the one that made her feel like she was staring into the sun.

"Glad I could help. I'll, uh, see you tomorrow?" He shuffled and glanced down at the floor, and she couldn't stop a smile from breaking out, endeared by her shyness.

"Of course, Seaweed Brain. Gotta get the tabloids talking." She shot him and wink and opened the door, closing her behind her as he flashed her another smile.

Annabeth slumped against the door, heart still beating. This was not good. This was not good at all.

* * *

The next three weeks were some of the most hectic of Percy's life, which was saying something, considering the fact that he was royalty. On top of all the photoshoots and leaked photos Silena was releasing to the public, gala preparations were going on for the both of them. He was being fitted at least once a day for his royal uniform, emblazoned with medals he had gotten while serving in the navy, back when he was 21.

Not to mention the growing feelings he felt pooling in his stomach whenever he was with Annabeth, which—considering the fact that they were "dating"—was a lot. The tabloids had leapt on it the second the photos were leaked, which wasn't surprising. Most people thought that Annabeth was something serious, because rarely was Percy's personal life open for introspection or criticism by the public. He didn't really have a life, so the most people couldn't criticize him was for that.

It was the week of the gala, and the entire palace was running around like mad people in a final dash. Despite having done this gala every year for as long as Percy could remember, this year was important, as it was 25 years his parents had been on the throne. (His mother had given birth to him just a few months before his grandparents had abdicated) People were going insane with the preparations and with the food, and especially since Percy was going to have Annabeth there.

Which, speaking of her, she was currently being fitted for her ballgown. When he had mentioned that to her, she simply rolled her eyes and sighed, accustomed to the requirement.

"I just don't like dresses," she shrugged, throwing another knife at the target.

He winced at the large thud it gave off, but shared an apologetic look with her. "I know, I'm sorry. But it'll be our first real public appearance where we actually tell everyone we're dating."

"No one's gonna believe it, you know that, right? You couldn't get this if you tried, even if you are a prince." She shot him a wink and he smiled, realizing she was joking.

"Yeah, you're probably right." With that, Percy turned on his heel and left, Annabeth still chucking knives at the target behind him.

And now it was two weeks later. He knocked on her door and heard a soft voice telling him to come in, so he pushed open the door and stepped into the room. She was sitting on the couch on her laptop, clearly watching something on Netflix. She glanced up at him as he neared, pausing the video and shutting the laptop closed. "Hey," she greeted, turning her body to face him. She gestured for him to sit down next to her. "What's up?"

"So," Percy began, hands twisting nervously over one another. He raked one through his hair and fiddling with his fingers (damn ADHD) before starting up once more. "I know that you haven't been to one of these events before so I just wanted you to know what you're getting yourself into. A majority of the nobles are actually pretty nice, but there are about twenty or so who are just a little stuck up and snobby. They're not evil, I just like making fun of them mentally."

Annabeth smirked at him. "Making fun of rich people; one of my favorite past times. Now you can make fun of them with someone else."

Percy cracked a small smile, but his eyes dropped to the floor once more. "Uh, the food is going to be pretty good, and uh, we'll be expect to dance and socialize, like a lot. You ready to back out yet?"

Annabeth laughed. "You're lucky I've known how to waltz for years and that I'm very good at genuinely talking to people even if I don't want to." She placed a hand on his arm, forcing him to look her in the eyes. "You'll be there to guide me, Percy, and I can take care of myself. If I can fight off several Russian mercenaries, I can take care of myself at a ball."

He cracked a smile at that and pulled her in for a hug. "You're kinda awesome. Also, hint: dinner's gonna be late, because first you and I have to greet everyone on the ballroom floor, and that takes a couple of hours, so we won't eat until around 11, and then we have to dance, and socialize, so if you can, take plenty of naps and eat something just before you start getting ready."

She squeezed his arm. "My knight in shining armor," she joked, "always ready to give me food."

"For you, the world, Wise Girl." Annabeth's eyes softened at that, and he _really_ wanted to kiss her, but her dogs took that second to jump on them, effectively ruining the moment, so he didn't bother to do anything.

:~:

It was a few days later, the night of the ball, and Percy was pacing back and forth in his room. He was fully dressed and had effectively ruined his stylist's hairdo for him by running his gloved hands through it repeatedly, but he knew Annabeth liked his messier hair more, so it was a no-brainer the look he would be sporting tonight.

Oh god. Just thinking of Annabeth made his stomach lurch with uncertainty. He had no doubt that she was an amazing friend and an amazing person, and that she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his safety of their relationship. But knowing that he and his fake girlfriend were going to spend so much time together and actually have to believably pass of as a couple was unnerving.

It wasn't going to be hard to pretend to have feelings for her, that was already done because he had them一the difficulty was in not being creepy and scaring her off with the stupid look on his face. Not to mention, they had never really acted like a couple in front of people. Sure, they had the photoshoots and everything, and they went on dates orchestrated by Silena, but those were all private or semi-private. Here, they were going to actually have to pull off being a couple in front of his subjects. To laugh and stare and dance and to couple things.

Fuck. He might have to throw up.

But before Percy could rush to his bathroom and upchuck his lunch, Silena strode in, impeccably dressed in a long blue gown a few shades darker than her eyes. She looked stunning, but the frown on her face was enough to make him feel slightly afraid.

"What, might I ask, as you doing here?" she snapped, fixing him with a steely glare.

He shrugged sheepishly. "Freaking out?"

"Your guests are downstairs, and you have to go greet them! Annabeth will be down in about fifteen minutes, but you're supposed to be down on the ballroom floor with your parents greeting the people who are walking around. People are still arriving!"

Percy winced at Silena's stressed voice, and yeah, it probably was his fault for not being down there. After all, she had pretty much been busting her ass to get all the stuff for his and Annabeth's relationship out to the public in a targeted manner, and she had gone through a lot of difficulty to make this ball the perfect time for them to reveal their relationship to the public. She deserved a lot more than what he had been giving her.

"Sorry, Silena. I'll head down there right now."

Silena gave him a sharp nod, and then smiled softly, transforming her features from coldly beautiful to stunning. "You're not a bad ward, Percy. You're just…. emotional. Be careful out there, ok?" She leveled him with a steady look, and Percy winced internally as he realized he really had been quite pathetic at hiding his crush on Annabeth from everyone.

Percy opened his door and approached the staircase, descending it and making his way to the grand ballroom, which was right at the bottom.

"Percy!" his mother exclaimed. "Finally. I was wondering why you were still up there. You're right on time. We just started greeting the guests as they're filtering into the ballroom."

"You look amazing, Mom," Percy said, kissing her cheek and shaking hands with his father. "This place looks pretty good, considering it's been going through one of these every year for 25 years."

His father offered him a smile. "I know. But I was wondering whether that lovely lady of yours was. Shame for her to go alone at a ball like this, especially since your mother told me she looked pretty stunning last she saw her."

Percy trained curious eyes on his mother, shrugged. "I helped her pick out her dress and gave her tips on getting ready for the ball. Least I could do, the poor girl got thrown into this life even worse than I did." Percy chuckled and swept his mother into a hug.

"You're amazing, Mom."

Sally swatted at him playfully. "That, I know. Now, come greet guests with us. She should be down in about ten minutes."

Percy spent the next ten minutes chatting with a few nobles who walked up to him. There were plenty around his age who he was good friends with and who he liked a lot, and it was nice to see them after a long time. He was in the middle of greeting the Duke of Lancs when he realized that the Duchess of Castonia was nudging him. "Hey, Percy, isn't that your girlfriend?"

Percy whirled around to see Annabeth and promptly felt his heart lurch out of his chest and into her hands.

She looked beautiful (and confused, glancing around the room for him) as she walked down the staircase, dressed in a pretty floaty, light salmon gown, detailing at her torso and material from her hips down. Her hair, for the first time he had ever seen, was loose around her bare shoulders, and those curls really did look like those of a princess's. Her lips were red and the makeup artists had done something to her eyes to make them look darker and greyer than normal, which he only found more captivating.

He managed to shake himself out of his stupor (wow, his fake girlfriend was _hot_ ) and strode forward, offering her a smile. He barely noticed the silence that fell around the ballroom as he approached her, and as she spotted him, her eyes lit up and she smiled, which only served to knock his breath right out of his lungs once more.

"You look unbelievable," he offered, holding out his arm for her to take. "Easily the prettiest girl in the room."

"You look very handsome too, Percy," she smiled, tucking her arm through his. The skin of her arms brushed against the soft material of his suit and she smiled. "You know, for someone who served in the navy, your parents would think that you wouldn't need someone like me."

"My parents are eternally stuck in the phase where they think I can't take care of myself," he explained, steering her towards his parents.

"Your Majesties," Annabeth curtsied, before straightening once more.

"You look quite stunning, Annabeth," Sally said, pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"You really do, my dear. The question is going to be how someone like my son managed to land someone like you."

Annabeth winked at Poseidon. "I told him as much myself." Percy pretended to look affronted as she slipped her arm through his once more. "You ready?" she asked, glancing above him. They were about to go start socializing. He lifted his head and glanced above her, lips thinning into a narrow line. He looked down on her once more and smiled.

"You know, I think we'll kill this."

Annabeth took a deep breath and started to walk alongside Percy. They had barely made it two steps before a pretty young girl, about sixteen, appeared in front of them. "Your Highness," she said, dropping into a curtsy. It's wonderful to see you."

"You too, Antonia. How is your family doing?" Percy replied politely, shooting her a smile.

"Well, Your Highness. May I inquire as to who this is?" She send a pointed glance at Annabeth, but it was full of curiosity, no hostility.

Annabeth shot Percy a glance. It was now, or never. They could still back out. But there was no hesitation in Percy's voice as he shot her a smile and said "my girlfriend, Annabeth Chase. We've been seeing each other for a few months now."

She shot the girl a smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too," Antonia replied. "Where did you two meet?"

Thankfully, they had prepared for this, and Percy smoothly said, "The university. Annabeth was visiting as she had used to attend, and I was there for a tour a while back. I asked her out and we had our first date right here in the palace."

"Oh? And what is it you do, Annabeth?" Antonia's figure raked over her, and Annabeth couldn't help but feel a bit like she was under a microscope, even if the look was anything but hostile, rather, concerned.

"Oh, I'm an architect at a firm in New York City. I studied here because Mylar University has one of the best programs in school. I actually went to school here for two years, studying abroad. It was amazing. This country really is beautiful."

Antonia offered them a small smile before curtsying once more and saying, "well, I am honored to be the first person to meet you, Annabeth. It was wonderful seeing you again, your highness." She walked away, gown swishing at her ankles, as Annabeth sagged slightly against Percy.

"Well, we got the first person done. This should be a lot easier now." Percy glanced down at her. "You were good, you know. Antonia is probably one of the best people we could have run into with everything that's going on. She doesn't gossip, but she'll mention it to some people and they'll come up to us more now. The more people know about this, the better."

"Ok then," Annabeth nodded, eyes set in a hard line. He couldn't help but wonder if this was how she sized up her opponents before taking them down, because it was captivating. "Let's do this."

They spent the better part of the next hour bouncing from noble to noble, citizen to citizen, introducing themselves and spreading the lie. Percy found himself enjoying the pretty blush that tinged her cheeks as she answered as his girlfriend far too much, even though it sadly faded the more she did it. At one point, someone had asked Annabeth whether or not she ever carried weapons on her person to defend herself from Percy's fans, as a joke, and Percy couldn't tell whether or not she was joking when she answered yes (and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to).

Annabeth slumped fully against him, all senses of proprietary gone with the thirtieth person she has spoken to, exhaustion coursing throughout her body. "I literally have no idea how you make it through these performances. I literally wanna stab myself."

Percy just groaned in response. "I cannot remember a time when I didn't hate these. Dinner's coming up soon, through. You wanna go?"

Annabeth smiled. "Dear god, please. You found my one true love."

Percy pretended to look affronted. "You mean to tell me that I'm not your one true love? I've never been so insulted in my life!"

"Really? With a face like that, I would have thought you would have been more used to it." Annabeth smirked, standing upright and smoothing her dress out. She fixed some of the wayward curls of blonde hair behind her ear, or at least tried to, and looped her arms through Percy's again. "Lead the way."

Percy maneuvered through the crowd of people, and thankfully, everyone else was also heading to the dining room, so he didn't have to worry about meeting someone and introducing his girlfriend.

When they reached the dining room, the nobles moved to allow Percy and Annabeth to move quickly, and he waited for his parents to sit down before guiding Annabeth to the seat next to him. He leaned. "There's about a million rules and I'm sure that Silena went over them with you, but be careful. I'll let you know if you're about to do something wrong. We don't want the tabloids to attack you relentlessly because you accidentally used the salad fork for your chicken. They'll do enough of that with your looks." Percy punctuated the last line with significant bitterness, and Annabeth turned to him, chuckling slightly.

"Don't get me wrong, the whole feminist thing is certainly attractive, but I'll be fine, Percy. I really don't care what the tabloids say about me." Her red lips curved up into a smile, and her face was far closer than he had anticipated. From here he could see that her eyes weren't just grey, but also flecked with light blue. Her gaze seemed far more intense, and he looked away before things would become too awkward between them.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to be a feminist from now on," Percy said, rolling his eyes. A smile tugged at his lips. "Can't have anyone thinking you don't find me incredibly sexy and attractive anymore."

Annabeth snorted. "That never happened in the first place, Seaweed Brain. Don't kid yourself." She patted his arm lightly as the rest of the guests finished seating themselves and the waiters started coming in, dishes piled high on the carts. They started at the head of the table, which meant that Percy's parents received their food first. Annabeth lifted her plate to see a small salad, and she furrowed her eyebrows.

"You Mylarians are so fancy. Back home we have like three courses. Here it's like 25." Annabeth picked up the medium sized fork and poked at her salad suspiciously, and Percy pressed his lips together to stop himself from laughing. Her face was scrunched up far too adorably, and he was hit with an incredibly strong urge to kiss her all of a sudden. Ignoring the implications of that possible action一mostly because he did not want to think about that at _all_ 一Percy wrapped his fingers around her smaller ones.

"Fork in left, and knife in right," he whispered in her ear, nose brushing against her hair (they were a lot of people in the dining room, so the tables had a lot of people and were close to each other, ok; they were squished), which he noticed smelled like lemons.

She ducked her head and nudged her fork a little. "If you ask me, anyone who has more than one fork and knife at their table needs to get their priorities straight."

Percy pressed his lips together to stifle a giggle. "Ok, whatever you say, Wise Girl."

Annabeth smiled before taking a bit of her salad, which she polished off in five minutes. "What, you guys don't have girls who have an appetite in Mylar?

Percy wrinkled his nose. "Not really. I mean, it's probably going to take another five to ten minutes for the second course to come out. We eat slow here."

Annabeth looked down at her plate, a dark look passing over her face, and Percy cursed himself, placing a hand on her back in reassurance. "I'm kinda fucking this entire thing up, right? All those lessons with Silena and nothing ends up working in the proper way."

Percy cracked a smile. "Don't worry about it. We needed some change here in the palace. Too much of the same. And, I like it. People don't really care about that here anymore."

Annabeth smiled at him, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Thanks for that. You're not the worst boyfriend. It could be worse."

Just then, they both were swept up in conversation about their relationship by the various members of the noble houses, and dinner passed in much of the same fashion, going on for another hour or two.

Soon, Percy's parents left the table hand in hand, and everyone else began dispersing out into the ballroom once more.

"Ready for our first dance?" He held out a hand to her and waited. She stared at with slight disdain, and he tried not to feel insulted until she started to speak.

"I'm horrible at dancing," she muttered, but she slipped her hand into his anyways. He tried not to think about how her calloused hands, so much like his larger, rough ones, fit into his. He stood up and led her onto the floor.

"I'm only doing this if you agree that we have to stay far away from center of the dance floor so nobody will see us."

He buried a smile in her hair, pressing his lips against her scalp. "Ok, I can deal with that." She reluctantly stepped into his arms and placed one hand on his shoulder, and entwined their fingers. "So," he began, as the music started up, "you don't really seem like someone who's terrible at dancing, considering you told me you've known how to waltz for years?"

"Not that," she admitted, gracefully sidestepping to keep herself from crashing into another couple. "I'm actually pretty ok at dancing, but it's more of what it entails that I don't like."

The space between Percy's eyebrows scrunched together. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth shrugged, letting herself be pulled closer to him, so the full length of her body was pressed against his. "I don't know. It's really... intimate, I guess. The intimacy, it scares me. I didn't grow up with a lot of people close to me, so I've never really learned to let those walls down."

"I'll just have to get you to loosen up then, I guess."

Annabeth laughed. "I'd like to see you try, Seaweed Brain." She opened her mouth to say something else, but Silena suddenly came up behind them, tapping Percy on the shoulder. He whirled around, Annabeth dragged with him as he was still holding her in his arms.

"What are you two doing?" she hissed. She looked like an Amazonian warrior, beautiful in her blue dress, but the fierce look in her eyes scared Percy a bit. "No one can see you out here! The whole point of this relationship is to get people talking about it."

Annabeth rolled her eyes at Percy, but she nodded her head. "Ok."

Annabeth let go of Percy's shoulder and led him out to the center of the ballroom, where he could immediately feel the numerous eyes on them. "I hate this, I hate this, I hate this," Annabeth sung under her breath, casting her eyes down to her shoes.

"Me too." Percy admitted, shooting her a grin. "The perks of being a prince, right."

Annabeth laughed and pulled him closer. "Well, we're here. We might as well give them a show."

Percy laughed. "That we should." As the waltz music started up, Annabeth leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Can't have many soul-baring talks here, can we?" She turned so that her eyes were boring straight into his, and his chest felt slightly constricted at her intense gaze.

"I don't know," he said lightly, hoping his tone covered the emotions he felt swirling inside. "Depends on whether or not you think discussions about mac and cheese and _Die Hard_ qualify as intense conversations."

"Oh, definitely," she nodded. "Best together, if these conversations are really going to be honest."

Percy grinned, but his stomach was churning. He needed to be careful, because if he didn't, he could really end up falling for this girl.

* * *

Annabeth trudged back to her room, feet aching. She wasn't unused to aching joints and musculature that was sore with every step she took, but the dress, which had been comfortable before, was becoming restricting, and she was seriously considering kicking the next person who stopped her to inquire about the nature of her relationship with the prince and her intentions.

She unlocked her door and slumped against the door the second it closed, breathing a sigh of relief as the weight was momentarily lifted off her soles. She made her way into her bedroom and flopped on the bed, tempted to sleep in the four thousand dollar gown she was currently wrinkling beyond comprehension. But, she knew Silena would have an aneurysm if she did so, so she took off her jewelry and piled it on the dresser before stripping out of her dress, throwing on an oversized t-shirt and wiping off the slightly smudged makeup. Before she could collapse into bed, however, the open laptop on her bedside table pinged with an incoming call.

Annabeth sighed and climbing into bed, burrowing under the covers before grabbing her laptop and accepting the call.

Piper's face appeared on her screen and smiled. "Hey, how is the glamorous life as girlfriend to the prince coming?"

Annabeth sighed, slumping back against her pillows before answering her best friend. "Exhausting. I was on my feet for at least four hours today, dinner not included. I literally cannot feel my feet."

"So," Piper pushed, "was it fun?"

Annabeth made a face at the screen. "Not really. But, I mean, Percy was at least fun to be around. He's much more down to earth than you would have expected him to be."

"So, you like him," Piper affirmed.

Annabeth's mouth dropped open as she said, "Piper, I didn't say anything! What are you talking about?"

"You basically said it right there. He makes everything more enjoyable." Piper punctuated this with a shrug and leaned back in her seat, raising an eyebrow at Annabeth.

"Piper, even if I did like him, in that wayーwhich I _don't_ ーnothing could ever happen between us. He's a prince. I'm his bodyguard posing as his girlfriend to protect his life."

Piper offered her a small smile. "You never know, Annabeth. The Queen was also a commoner before she married the crown prince."

Annabeth pressed her hands against her eyelids, rubbing them in a futile attempt to get rid of the tiredness building up in them. "Whatever, Piper. I'm beat, and I need to be up super early tomorrow. Everyone is going to be talking about our relationship. I'll call you soon."

Piper nodded, sending her a wave. "And, Annabeth, I know this might sound like the opposite of what a best friend should say, but you could stand to protect your heart a little bit less. You have to let more people in eventually. Percy seems like a good guy."

She nodded before waving goodbye and shutting the laptop, setting it to the side. But despite the exhaustion that was weighing her down, she found herself lying awake in bed, listening to her own breathing. Her dogs, curled up in the corner, disturbed the silence as their paws scrabbled against the wooden floor.

She stared at the ceiling and replayed the events of the night over her head. She was probably over analyzing the situation, but what could she do? Her stomach was churning, and maybe going over everything would make her feel better.

Or it could just serve to confuse her even more. Annabeth groaned and rolled over, burying her face in the pillow. "I hate feelings," she mumbled.

She rolled over and closed her eyes, replaying their dance on the floor. Why, why, _why_ had she agreed to dance with him? She had liked the scent of his cologne and his hand in hers too much to do so, but she had thrown caution to the wind and had done it anyways.

The feel of his hand on her back, of that warm smile directed at her, made butterflies burst into her stomach. But it didn't mean anything. It couldn't mean anything.

Annabeth reaffirmed that thought in her head, tracing it over and over again, even if it made her stomach tie itself up in knots.

With that, she fell asleep, dreams about rough hands, warm smiles, and cool eyes plaguing her thoughts all night.

:~:

Annabeth woke up the next morning and felt like her entire body had been run over by a bus. The sunlight was excessively harsh on her eyelids and and didn't want to get out of bed, but she was going to be needed. And, she would never admit this to anyone but herself, Silena scared her a little.

By the time she had dragged herself out of bed, washed her face, showered and dressed and fed her dogs, it was already half past eight.

She walked down the hallway, and, in rubbing her eyes free of exhaustion, crashed directly into someone.

"Oof. You gotta be more careful," Percy said, grabbing onto her shoulders. "I was just coming to get you. Silena has apparently 'gigantic' news to show us," he said, putting the word in quotation marks, "and she can't wait to for us to see it."

"Hopefully it's good," Annabeth muttered, clutching onto Percy's arm as she shuffled down the hallway. "I did not want to get up today."

Percy chuckled as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Yeah, you tend to feel like that after the first royal party you attend. There's a crazy amount of social being involved. It takes the best of us. Now," he murmured, dropping his head so his lips were close to her ear, forehead pressed against the side of her head, "imagine that you've had to do that at least three times a year since you were four."

Annabeth shuddered at the thought. "That literally sounds like hell. How did you ever get through them?"

Percy shrugged. "Eating a lot of food. But, now, I guess, I've got you." He nudged her with his shoulder as they walked into the dining room, Percy's parents sitting at the head of the table reading some papers while Silena tapped away furiously on her phone, her laptop screen glowing in front of her.

"Here comes the music," Annabeth whispered, shooting Percy a look. His arm left her shoulder and trailed down her arms before entwining their fingers together.

"Yeah. This is gonna suck," he offered eyes twinkling at her.

She rolled her eyes. "Usually, when a girl says something like that, she's expecting comfort, Seaweed Brain. No wonder you haven't had many girlfriends."

Percy elbowed her gently as they made their way to their seats. "Isn't a girlfriend supposed to be supportive?"

"Yeah, but so are you," Annabeth quipped, smirking at him.

As they settled into her seats, Percy speared a piece of fruit and was about to start eating when Silena put her phone down.

"Well, the internet is absolutely exploding over you, Annabeth. Of course, there are always haters, but the response, for the most part, as been overwhelmingly positive. People see the relationship between you two and they like it. Most of them don't believe you two have only been dating for a few months."

Annabeth piped up, "I mean, how long do you think that this relationship will have to go on for?"

Silena shugged. "I mean, if we're going to have any semblance of commitment, probably for a long time. Give or take a few months, I'd say around a year and a half?"

Annabeth's eyebrows shot up into her hairline. "A year and a half?"

"Hey," Percy protested, "I'd like to be fake dating me for a year and a half. I'm a catch!"

Annabeth smirked. "That's what you think, Seaweed Brain. Anyways, it's not about you. I just want to make sure this facade is actually going somewhere."

Silena smiled, which suddenly made her face seem much more open and her eyes suddenly inviting. "You two can pull it off, I'm sure. But we need to mitigate the press response to your relationship status. Right now, both of you are trending on Twitter ever since I released the names and pictures of you two after the gala last night. Here, take a look." Silena held her phone out and Percy grabbed her, Annabeth leaning in to see what was on the screen.

"Wow," she smirked, scrolling down even further. "Of course all of the comments are about how handsome you look." Well, it wasn't untrue.

"You're one to talk," Percy scoffed. "Everyone seems to think you're unfairly gorgeous. Look, half of them are about how pretty you are, and half of them are about how much they love your dress. Can't say I disagree."

Annabeth blushed a deep red down to her roots. She hated how pale she looked in harsh lighting, there was no way to hide her embarrassment. "So, uh, what's next in store for us, I guess?"

Silena pursed her lips. "Well, we can't jump on this too eagerly. Most likely, I want to tease this with photos and appearances, like outings and things like that, but I need you two to keep this on the down low. We can't let people assume too much or too little."

"Sounds simple," Annabeth muttered, pushing her food around her plate aimlessly.

Silena shrugged. "I mean, it really is. It's going to be a few more months of essentially this and then we might go into interviews, and I know it might seem ridiculous to start planning this far in advance, but about six months from now, when you guys are around the 8-month mark, you have to start going on trips."

"Trips," Percy echoed blankly, staring at her.

"Yes, trips. Like the kind that you take when you're really serious about someone. The kind that you take to other countries with the rest of the royal family to show how committed you are to each other. The kind you take to the famous events that you are invited to."

Annabeth groaned. "God, why is this so complicated?"

"Because we have convoluted and ridiculous customs that are annoying and apparently tradition. There's only so much that my parents can defy, you know. They already broke things pretty significantly by marrying a commoner into the royal family." Percy explained, running his fingers around the rim of his glass.

"If you ask me, you guys are stuck in a tremendously dated and stupidly antiquated form of government. What if one of the members in your family ends up queer?"

Percy shrugged. "Well, when I'm king, they can do whatever they want."

Annabeth leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Yeah, well, you let me know how it is changing the world in ten years."

"You think we're still gonna keep in touch ten years after all of this?"

"Yeah, why not? I mean, I don't have many other fake boyfriends, but I don't know about you. I think living through this ridiculous experience together is gonna make us want to still talk to each other, yeah?"

Percy smiled at her. "Definitely."

:~:

 _deadgirl99: these two are too cute i literally_ _ **cannot**_

 _miredindoubt: her dress is so pretty what i want_

 _rideordieforhp: there's no way they've only been dating for two months, just look at the way they look at each other_

 _inlovewithfood: she better get her hands off of my man! percy is_ _ **mine**_ _!_

 _finalsaremycauseofdeath: inlovewithfood dude, calm yourself she's literally an innocent girl why you attacking her_

 _whitefeathers: just_ _ **look**_ _at the way they are how can you not fall in love with them! that dance was beautiful!_

 _queenofmykingdom: dudes, i don't even care how this pans out as long as we get another royal wedding very soon_

 _apocalypticmusic: i mean, i'm not saying everyone ships it… but i'm saying everyone ships it_

* * *

Percy squinted against the harsh sunlight. Rome was way more splendid than he had anticipated, but it was also ridiculously bright. Not that it wasn't bright in Mylar, but Rome didn't have nearly as many trees or mountains.

The wind ruffled his hair and nearly sent his papers flying as he turned to look at Annabeth. In jeans and a silk top, she looked far more dazzling than someone who had spent the past three hours on a plane had the right to be.

She took off her sunglasses to look at him and frowned. "Remind me again why we're here, four months ahead of schedule?"

For the past two months, they had been going around the country of Mylar, feeding off of the constant news stream about their relationship. The first month after their reveal had been a nightmare. Everyone was invested in their relationship, and the media seemed more like vultures than actual people. Every single major news outlet was reporting on this, and everyone was (rightfully) assuming it was something serious, as Percy hadn't been seen with a girl, ever.

He had to keep reminding himself that this was what everyone wanted, but this was also what someone had orchestrated. None of it was real. (no matter how much he wanted it to be)

Poor Annabeth had dealt with way more media attention han she was probably used to, and he felt bad about that. She had signed up for this, but it wasn't really her fault. No one could keep their business to themselves, and they were obsessed with him.

They had become very good friends in the meantime, and he could safely say that she was one of his best friends now. It was much better having someone he could talk to be the one he was faking a relationship with. They stayed up way too late some nights, hanging out with her dogs in her room, just talking about anything and everything. She probably knew him almost as well as he knew himself.

She slipped her hand into his as they walked away from the tarmac, squeezing it as she breathed deeply.

"You got this, ok,' he reassured her, pulling her closer to his body for a quick hug before letting her go again. "Never bet against Annabeth, right?" He pressed his finger against her nose and she stuck her tongue out at them, before bumping her hip into his.

"You'd think I'd be used to it by now, right?" she bit her lip and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I mean, I've been doing this for 25 years, and I'm still not used to it. You kinda got thrown in the deep end. I think you've been handling it really well."

"Thanks for the compliments," she smiled at him. "Exceeding my scant expectations set by my small amount of boring boyfriends."

Percy smiled as they stepped out of the tarmac to where their car was waiting for them. The crowd that was gathered there started immediately snapping pictures, and Silena hissed at them to act more like a couple.

Annabeth looked at him and rolled her eyes before tucking herself into his side, wrapping an arm around his waist and leaning against his shoulder. Percy tried to limit how much he relished the feeling her her smaller frame against his larger one, but there was only so much he could do.

When they were settled inside the car and on their way to their hotel, Silena pulled out a sheet of paper that looked color coded and quite horrible to Percy's dyslexic eyes, but Annabeth's lit up right away. "Oh, I love organization."

"So, you guys have a very strict schedule for the next few days. You have to go to the fashion shows and you have schedules appearances that need to happen, not to mention that you're both expected to tour the new section of this museum because they want to see what you both think about it."

Percy sighed as he rubbed his neck, which was tense. Annabeth rolled her eyes and sighed, saying, "hey, come here." Confused, Percy moved closer, but she placed her hands on his shoulders and dug in intensely, relieving all the built up tension that was starting to hurt badly.

"Thank you, so much," he said, knots in his back starting to loosen up for the first time since this whole charade began. "You're amazing."

"Shut up," she said, moving his fingers further down his back. "If I keep doing this any longer, you're going to end up falling asleep on me, and I don't want that."

Percy laughed and turned to face her. "You're a goddamn lifesaver, and you know it." Annabeth yawned and nodded at him, rubbing her eyes. All of a sudden, he noticed how exhausted she was; the sunglasses had been to hide the exhaustion in her eyes that was palpable.

"You need to get some rest," he suggested, running his hand up and down her back, rubbing circles into the tense muscle as he did.

Annabeth nodded as she slumped onto him, eyes closing in exhaustion. "How far away from the hotel are we?" she murmured, face buried into his shoulder.

"About 30 minutes," Silena answered softly, typing away on her phone as she glanced up at them. Percy swallowed at her intense gaze, which seemed to know way more than he was comfortable with.

Annabeth made a noise of assent and snuggled further into him, and he pulled her closer, letting her drift off to sleep.

"You better be careful, Percy," Silena said, looking up from her screen, affixing her worried gaze on him.

"What?" he said. He really didn't want her to be talking about what he thought she was talking about.

"You know what I'm talking about, Percy. You're not stupid, you're dyslexic. They don't mean the same thing. You and Annabeth. Out of all the fake relationships I've orchestrated, which there have been quite a bit of, this is the one that looks most like a real relationship to me. I don't want either of you getting hurt."

Percy shook his head, even though he was more unnerved by Silena's words than he appeared to be. "That's not going to happen. We're _just_ friends."

Silena just laughed and started to pull out a folder. "I've heard that one before. Never ends well."

Percy just decided to ignore her and focus on the sleeping girl next to him, who was deeply asleep and clearly tired, if the way she didn't react at all when he began to stroke her hair was any indication. But, to his dismay, soon they reached the hotel, and he gently shook her awake.

Annabeth grumbled and buried her face into his shoulder, but he just gently shook her one more time to get her awake.

"I didn't sleep at all." she complained, rubbing her eyes. "I hate all of you." She dragged herself out of the car and looked at the five-star hotel, completely unimpressed by how opulant the lobby seemed to be.

Placing a hand on her back, Percy guided her in and waited for the detail to check them in. Of course, they had been assigned separate rooms because of proprietary reasons, but they were very close to each other and on the same floor, both large suites that were, in his opinion, a little excessive.

Soon, they reached their rooms, and despite it only being around 3 in the afternoon, the both of them were so drained from the travel and all that preceded it that Percy bid Annabeth a quick farewell and collapsed into his bed, right next door to her, and fell asleep.

:~:

Percy woke up startled, breathing heavily. He swore that something was shouting, that there had been a noise that had jolted him out of his slumber. Lying in bed, he waited again, hoping that the sound would appear once more. He didn't have to wait long, and what he heard was worse than what he could have ever imagined.

A broken half-sound, a scream or cry or yell, he didn't know, was heard from Annabeth's room. A thousand possibilities flashed through his head, each of them worse than the other, and he leapt out of bed, grabbing his keycards and unlocking her door (as they had exchanged key cards to each other's room when they had received them).

He burst in and for a second, everything was ok, until he heard the sound once more, coming from the bedroom. Striding over to the door, he threw it open and saw Annabeth on the bed, covers strewn around her and flailing, nearly falling off the bed. She looked like she was in extreme pain, and a scream ripped out of her throat while he was standing there, frozen in the doorway. That spurred him into action and he rushed towards her, pulling her out of her covers and cradling him close to her.

"Annabeth. Annabeth! Annabeth!" he yelled shaking her lightly. He didn't know what to do, but he couldn't stand seeing her like this, in so much pain and tormented by something. He was used to nightmares himself; serving in the army had its fair share of horrors, but he was unused to this level of pain.

Thankfully, Annabeth soon broke herself out of her nightmares, and seeing him rubbed away the tears that had unknowingly streamed down her cheeks. She stared at him as though she wasn't even really seeing him there, but buried her head in his chest all the same.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, voice garbled by his t-shirt. "I didn't mean to be so loud. I didn't want to wake anyone up. I can usually keep them under control." Percy shushed her and simply rubbed his hand up and down her back, cradling her still shaking body close to him.

"You don't have to apologize for anything, Annabeth. You don't have to say anything. I get it. I have episodes too." Her body, which had previously been tense and on edge, loosened up, and she sunk into his, wrapping her arms around his waist and squeezing tightly, almost like they were giving each other a hug.

"I saw my friend killed in front of me when I was 18," she said, sniffling and blinking back tears. "His name was Luke."

Percy just held her closer, if that was possible, and buried his face in her hair. She didn't need to explain anything. He just wanted her to feel better.

After about ten minutes, Annabeth drew herself away from him, her eyes beginning to droop closed once more. "I'm sorry for making you come in here," she apologized, snuggling into the covers once more.

Percy offered her a sad smile. "It's fine. It wasn't a big deal." He made to get up from the bed, but before he could, her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

She swallowed roughly, and he could see her jaw begin to tense up as she chose her words carefully. "Please, stay. I don't like being on my own after I have an episode. It's harder than ever."

Percy couldn't refuse her, and he nodded, climbing into the bed next to her. Fuck propriety, she needed his help. He wasn't about to refuse her when she was so clearly in distress. He laid down next to her, completely prepared to stay on his side of the bed, so he was shocked when Annabeth turned into him and promptly fell asleep at his side. He didn't want to move away, for fear of waking her up and her figuring out what he was trying to do, so he simply wrapped an arm around her shoulder pulled her close.

As much as he hated to admit it, the peaceful expression on her face while she slept was enticing, and her soft, steady breathing soon sent him off as well.

* * *

Annabeth woke up with sunlight streaming onto her bed, right in her face. She squinted and rolled over, but once she did, her heart stopped beating and her eyes widened, any vestiges of sleep completely gone.

Percy lay next to her, arm wrapped around her waist. Before she had rolled over, her back had been pressed against his chest, and he held onto her tightly, but not possessively. She tried not to breathe too loudly or move too much, lest she wake him up.

What the hell had she been thinking? Asking the crown prince to climb into bed with her over a few nightmares? She had probably been pleading, and, like the decent human Percy was, he couldn't have just left her there to deal with her mental images by herself. She groaned, burying her face in her hands. She might have just jeopardized their entire relationship. If anyone ever found out about this, the scandal that would ensue would be one that no one could walk away from, not even Percy, who was the closest thing to perfection one could get.

Annabeth rubbed her eyes and watched Percy sleep. She felt incredibly guilty from dragging him into this, but she couldn't deny that having him in her bed was definitely not the worst thing that had ever happened to her. Nor would she be opposed to it happening again. If anything he was ever more handsome while he slept, face at peace, even though she couldn't see his enticing eyes or warm smile.

Soon, though, Percy's eyes flickered open and saw her looking at him. She offered him a small smile and he gave one back, retracting his arm from around her waist and sitting up, back pressed against the headboard as he stretched.

"Well," he began, yawning. "Can't say that I've done that with any of the other girls I know."

Annabeth cracked a smile. Thank god he wasn't making a big deal out of this. She wasn't sure how she would have handled it if he had. "Me neither. Girls, or guys, really. But um," she paused, looking down at the sheets, "thank you, for being here. You really didn't have to."

"I know. But I wanted to be here. I wanted to help you out."

Annabeth looked away, suddenly unable to meet his intense gaze. "I know I told you why I had those nightmares last night, and I would really appreciate if you would keep that to yourself. I know I have no right to ask much more of you, but I really need this and-"

She cut off suddenly, Percy's hand on her arm stopping the words that were just spilling from her mouth. "Of course I won't tell anyone, Annabeth. That's your secret, not mine."

Weakly smiling at him, she placed a hand over his and squeezed. "I know I jeopardized our whole 'thing'" she gestured, "when I asked you to sleep here, but I am not kidding when I mean that it was crazy helpful. I haven't had many episodes, since I started seeing a therapist soon after it happened, but for some reason last night was particularly bad. I have them so infrequently nowadays I forget how horrible they are," she explained.

"I used to get them, years ago when I was dispatched to serve. Back when I was 21, every member of the royal family must serve at least one year in an active combat zone, and Mylar, which is an ally of the major first world countries in the world, such as the United States, deployed its navy to fight in the Bay of Bengal when the war was going on. I saw horrible things, and I had episodes about it for years. Still get them."

Annabeth rubbed her face with her hands, running them through her hair before looking at Percy once more. "Thank you. I can't repay you for what you did."

Percy just wrapped his arms around Annabeth and pulled her close, tucking her face into his shoulder. "You don't ever have to."

:~:

Annabeth brushed her hair quickly and almost carelessly; how she dressed in the morning didn't even matter when Silena had hired a personal stylist for her. She was dressed in the clothes the stylist has laid out for her, and she was supposed to meet her downstairs before breakfast, as she and Percy were reportedly going on a tour of Rome today, before the fashion show at night. She was probably going to be completely useless, but who cared. She was doing all of this for Percy.

Annabeth looked in a mirror and swallowed roughly. A million emotions were warring on her face, confusion, fear, uncertainty. She was trained for this kind of thing. She could do it. She rubbed her face and settled it into a mask of calm indifference before rushing out of the room, after a quick glance at the clock told her she was about to be late. After meeting her stylist and getting her hair done, she ran to the dining room, which had been booked for the royal family to eat breakfast.

Before she walked in, she heard them, laughing rather loudly. Stopping at the doorway, Annabeth leaned against it as she watched Percy's mother ruffle his hair and his father smile at him. Percy looked happier and more carefree than she could have ever remembered him, and her heart ached for what he had. She wanted a family, so badly and more than anything. She wanted parents who loved and appreciated her with all her heart.

Annabeth blinked away the harsh thoughts that had begun to form in her mind and straightened up, lightly rapping on the door and walking in. Both of Percy's parents looked up and greeted her, and she bowed to both of them before pulling out the chair next to Percy.

"Hey," she said, bumping shoulders with him. He just looked at her through a mouthful of pancakes and grinned, and she had the decency not to look disgusted, but she rolled her eyes and stifled a giggle as Sally whacked Percy on the back of the head and chided him for his deplorable eating habits.

Percy swallowed his food and smiled at her. "Ready to run the equivalent of a marathon around the city and then judge the strangest clothes one has ever seen tonight?"

"Sounds like a blast," Annabeth drawled, taking a bite of her eggs. "I can't wait to show up in a ridiculous outfit. Do you have any idea how much I miss sweatpants?" She glanced down at her outfit, which was a pair of black skinny jeans under a blue top. Absently, she noted that Percy was also wearing blue, although his was darker and hers was pastel.

Percy smirked. "I don't know, you look great in pretty much anything. Hard to imagine you hating anything that you could pull off."

Annabeth's face turned pink, but she stuck her tongue out at him. "At least I know how to brush my hair."

"Overrated skill," he stated, before stuffing his mouth full of food once more. She glanced out of the corner of her eyes and noticed Percy running his hand over his hair, attempting to flatten it, and smiled, despite herself. Annabeth bit back a smile and just turned away, working on her omelet as they waited for Silena to enter the room.

They didn't have to wait long; ten minutes later she walked in, dressed in a pink top and white skirt. Sitting across from Percy and Annabeth, she opened her bag and pulled out a folder, handing them each identicals sheets from it. "Now, these are all the locations you two have to visit today. I'm sure that both of you really want to. Percy, please listen to Annabeth when she starts talking about the architecture. It's good for you two to be invested in what the other likes, to some extent."

Percy nodded as Annabeth scanned over the list, excitement piling up in her at all the places she was visiting. So many of these had been on her bucket list, and she was going to get to knock them all off with one her best friends/fake boyfriend. Today could turn out to be a better day than she was expecting.

"Percy, look!" she pointed at a place on the map. At Percy's focused look, she added, "We get to see the Colosseum. You know, where all the gladiators fought."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "As long as it's not boring, I'm in."

"None of this is boring, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth remarked, leaning back in her seat as her eyes traced reverently over the paper. "It's all previous history, and we should remembered it."

At Percy's pout, she rolled her eyes. "Ok, and we'll get some gelato as well."

"You're the best, Annabeth," Percy sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his head. "So," he directed to Silena, "how long is this fashion show supposed to be? I know we're here because Mylar donated a good amount of money to some of the charities that the proceeds from this show is going to, but the last thing I want to do is pretend to be interested in something I'm not."

"You're doing that all day with me, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said dryly, flipping the paper over to see if there was anything on the back.

"Yeah, but I still get to hear you talk about stuff you like. I like listening to you speak. I'm going to listen to some weird deep voice say crazy stuff and more about clothes than I could ever care about at this show." Annabeth murmured her assent at Percy's words.

"Hopefully not too long, Percy, but it will go pretty late. I hope both of you are up for the after party that follows the runway." Silena shot them a sympathetic look.

They groaned simultaneously, and Annabeth shot a look at Percy. "Show our heads for like twenty minutes then ditch?" she suggested.

He nodded. "Yeah. I need to get some more sleep. I seriously miss when I could sleep in." He rubbed his eyes and yawned, shaking his head to wake him up some more. "We're both still exhausted from the jetlag and we'll be exhausted already from the trip."

"Great." Silena affirmed, packing up her stuff and standing up. "Annabeth, I've already laid out what you're supposed to wear in your suite, so put that on when you come back, and Lacey will help you with the rest of it. Now, the both of you, follow me."

Percy shot Annabeth a confused look, but she just shrugged, pushing her chair out and standing up. He grabbed her hand as they followed Silena outside, where a single black car was waiting for them. "Now, I know the two of you are tired of the constant scrutiny and attention, so I've decided that it's only going to be me and one bodyguard with you today. Between the two of us, you guys can explore the city, but if you want to go somewhere else, just let us know and we will drive you. You can still walk around, just make sure to keep in touch. I want eyes on the both of you at all times, ok?"

Annabeth nodded, and she shot Percy a grin. "You're going to have so much fun."

They spent the rest of the day bouncing from ruin to ruin. Annabeth couldn't deny that telling someone who didn't know any of this stuff for the first time wasn't exhilarating, since, contrary to his words, Percy actually seemed to like hearing what she knew, until she went a little too deep and his eyes started to glaze over.

Eventually, they reached the place she had wanted to see the most, the Colosseum. "There's so much history here," she said, tracing the stone structure, which was falling into extreme disrepair. "It's sad that we let this happen to it."

Percy placed a hand on her shoulder. "You really like history, don't you?"

"Men who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it," she murmured, still fixated on the crumbling building. "Looking at our past doesn't always have to be tragic as long as we remember we are always capable of improvement." She bit her lip before turning away from the building. "We should go see the inside really quickly before we head to the Trevi Fountain. It's about a 45 minute walk from here, if you're up for that."

Percy nodded, but she could feel his intense gaze on her, tracing the lines of her face. She wasn't exactly sure how to tell him that the Colosseum was the last pure memory she had of her father. She ignored him and walked in, still mesmerized at the building. She might no longer speak to her father, but she couldn't deny that everything he had told her about this place was true. If she looked hard enough at the pit in the center, she could almost imagine cheering Romans and blood splattered men. Percy said absolutely nothing beside her, just watching how she moved around the place silently, almost solemnly.

"Too many people died here for the pleasure of others," she said. "It's like a little war." She smiled, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "I loved hearing about this place from my father." Percy didn't say anything, and for that she was more grateful than words could say. "He used to read me books about the gladiators in the arena and tell me stories, and show me pictures. It was the last good thing we did together."

Percy said nothing until Annabeth looked at him and offered him a weak smile. "It's ok. You can ask."

He shook his head. "Not until you're completely ready for me to. I'm not big on pushing someone when they don't want to say anything." Her shoulders dropped, and the swirling in Annabeth's stomach quieted for the first time since they had walked into the Colosseum.

"We should go. I want to head to the Trevi Fountain." Annabeth turned and walked past him, but stopped for a second. "Don't laugh at it."

Percy rolled his eyes. "I've seen too many naked dudes by now to be bothered by that."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, despite that they were pretty alone while walking back. She tried not to think about what it meant that she wanted to hold his hand even in private.

They walked in silence for a few minutes until Percy started asking questions, Annabeth patiently answering them. This was pretty much her definition of a perfect day, casually strolling through Rome with a good friend, seeing all the architecture and sculpture she had reading about her entire life in person.

When they made it to the Trevi Fountain about an hour later, after a quick stop at a gelato shop, Annabeth immediately dug into her pocket for a coin. She found one and handed it to Percy, who looked at her in confusion. "It's a fountain, Seaweed Brain. Throw the coin in and make a wish. You can't visit the Trevi Fountain and not throw a coin in. It's the only fountain in the world where your wish might actually come true. It's said that if you throw one in, no matter what your wish is, maybe, you'll always return to Rome."

Percy looked skeptical, but he grabbed the coin anyways, he made to just casually throw it into the fountain, but Annabeth stopped him. "Wait! You have to throw it using your right hand over your left shoulder."

Percy looked flummoxed. "Why?"

"Because you just do!" Annabeth hissed, a little annoyed she didn't actually have a good reason. "At least, that's what I've heard. Come on, Percy. Please." Annabeth trained her best puppy dog eyes on him, but she really had nothing on Percy's, so he just rolled his eyes.

"Fine, if you really want me to. Come on, we'll do it at the same time." Annabeth smiled at him, and then both turned around, their backs facing the fountain. "Ready?" he asked, looking down at her. She nodded, and held out her hand. "Ok, uh, now!" At the same time, they tossed their coins over their shoulder and turned around instantly. Unfortunately, because they weren't looking where they were throwing the coins, and the plaza was crowded, they had no idea whether or not their coins went into the fountain.

"You think they landed where they should?" Annabeth asked, a worried look pulling at the corner of her eyes.

Percy shrugged, slipping his hand into hers. "I think so. But, anyways, I'm a firm believer in making your own fate happen. What's the point of having a fountain do all the work and you end up not liking it when you can control what happens?"

Annabeth smiled at him. "I have to say, Jackson, I'm inclined to agree with you. That almost never happens, you win a medal." She gasped and clapped at him, and Percy just laughed.

"Shut up," he laughed, slinging an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in. She felt her heart beat faster as he pressed a kiss to her scalp, and she hugged him back quickly before he let her go. How did he _always_ smell like the sea? He stepped away from her, but kept their hands intertwined, when his brows furrowed together and he pulled his phone out from his pocket. Quickly, his expression turning from one of confusion to that of near terror.

"What's wrong?" Annabeth asked, leaning closer to the phone. Percy gulped and simply slid his finger across the screen, opening the text from Silena.

 _ **Silena:**_

 _ **{now}**_

 _You two need to kiss. The news needs something else besides the two of you dating. Make it happen and make it happen fast! And make it a good kiss!_

Annabeth suddenly felt as though her throat was completely devoid of any water; it was as dry as the Sahara Desert. She swallowed roughly and mustered all the courage she had left to look up at Percy, who was looking anywhere but her. "Percy, it's ok. We can do this. We're friends, right?"

Percy's eyes flickered back to hers and he managed a smile. "Always. I just don't want you to feel pressured into anything."

Despite herself, Annabeth laughed. "Percy, I can assure you I know what it feels like to do something you really don't want to do, and this is most certainly not one of those things. I don't mind kissing you," she added nonchalantly, shrugging her shoulders to try and be casual, hoping she didn't give too much away about how much she did want to kiss him.

Percy breathed out. "Ok, then. Um, if you don't mind, I think I want to do this sitting down. I feel like it would just be much easier."

Annabeth's heart seemed like it had decided to permanently lodge itself inside her stomach and her throat simultaneously, but she managed a head nod and sat down on the edge of the Trevi Fountain. Percy took a seat next to her and ran a hand through his hair, making it even messier. It comforted her, to a small extent, to know that he was as nervous as she was. "Percy," she questioned gently, as something came to her. "I'm not your first kiss, am I?"

"What?" Percy said, looking shocked. "No, no," he responded, shaking his head. "Not my first one, I just haven't kissed many people. I haven't liked most girls enough as more than a friend to kiss them."

Annabeth smiled. "It's ok. You're not mine either, but it's not like I haven't kissed many people before either." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "So, uh, how do you want to do this? Should I kiss you first, or should you kiss me first?"

Percy caught her fiddling hand in his own and brushed the other one over her cheek. "We'll," he paused, licking his lips. His face was so close to hers she couldn't help but trace the movement with her own eyes. "We'll meet in the middle?" he asked, "do it together?"

"That sounds good," Annabeth nodded, suddenly breathless. She found herself unable to tear her eyes from him, but she smiled anyways. "We got this, Percy."

Percy smiled back at her, and she leaned in at the same time as him, one hand against his neck and the other entwined with his on her lap, his rough hand still resting against her cheek.

The second his lips touched hers, Annabeth knew she was a goner.

God, if she didn't know Percy, she would have assumed that he was lying to her about having only kissed a few girls, because he kissed her with both nervousness and confidence. He almost seemed to be holding back somehow, lips closed and pressing softly against her own, but the way he did so was so amazing and made her so lightheaded she wasn't sure someone who was as inexperienced as he proclaimed to be could achieve. But he was still nervous, and she wasn't about to waste possibly her only time kissing him on the kind of kiss you gave your grandma on the cheek.

Annabeth pulled him closer, both hands going to his neck and lips pressing against his more insistently. He opened his mouth slightly and deepened it, and she took it in stride, feeling the ground drop out from underneath her. He wanted more, and she wanted to give it to him, but she couldn't. She had to remember that all of this was a ploy. Percy placed his other on her neck, and pulled her even closer to him, burying the hand that was previously on her cheek in her curls. She didn't want to stop kissing him, but eventually, air became a reluctant necessity and she was forced to part, pulling way with a massive blush on her cheeks. However, the placement of Percy's hands did not allow her to move far away, so she rested her forehead against his and breathed.

"Stay like this for a bit?" he suggested, voice rougher than she had heard it before.

"Yeah," Annabeth said, lungs feeling like she had run a marathon. "Yeah, that sounds good."

* * *

Percy glanced over at Annabeth as she slept, slumped against the airplane cabin window, completely oblivious to the rest of the world. Strands of tangled hair fell in front of her face, and he brushed them behind her ear, thumbs stroking her cheek.

They had just landed in Mylar home from their trip in Rome, where they had stayed for the entire month of October, and Percy would be lying if he said he wasn't a little sad they were back home. Ever since Annabeth's nightmares on the first day, they had fallen asleep together, in his room or hers, curled up on various couches, or literally on the floor, exhausted but still near each other.

Percy felt guilty that he had been dragging her all over the world, jetting setting from nation to nation. They were even due to visit Japan in a few months, for the cherry blossom festival, and he just didn't want her to be upset about going from place to place because of him.

He really didn't want to wake her up, and he wanted to carry her to her room so she'd keep sleeping, but he could only break so much royal protocol in the light of day, when they weren't married. He couldn't do anything besides lightly shake her.

Annabeth stretched and grumbled, blearily opening her eyes before muttering, "Fuck off and let me sleep."

Percy just chuckled and ran a hand over her arm placatingly. "Sorry, Wise Girl, but we really have got to leave. I mean, unless you wanna wake up tomorrow morning in another weird country because you slept on the plane."

"If I didn't wake up," Annabeth said, voice thick from exhaustion, "would you still stay with me and fly to another country?"

 _Of course,_ Percy thought. But voicing that wouldn't help them. "Never," he snorted, settling back against his chair. "I happen to miss my bedroom and my home very much, thank you."

She flipped him off, and Annabeth shuffled a little, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. "Ugh," she groaned, face in her hands. "I can't do this. I'm so tired."

"It's only 2 p.m. here." Percy rubbed her back, feeling her lean into his touch and barely avoid falling asleep.

"Someone better help me to my room, because I am not waking up until tomorrow morning. I need my sleep."

Percy rolled his eyes and tugged on her arm. "Come on, Wise Girl. Let's go." Annabeth followed the tug of his arm and nearly tripped over her own feet, pressing her body right up against his.

"I just want to say I very much discourage this course of action and I want to sleep," she protested, raising an arm to loop through his. "And if there are any paparazzi around here I'll be very tempted to pull these twenty-five useless bobby pins out of my hair and gut them."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Could you kill, or, I guess, gut, a man with twenty-five bobby pins?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Twenty-five seems excessive. I'd only need five or so."

"How?" Percy whispered, shocked and horrified, and a little in awe. "I don't even think I could hurt someone with a hundred bobby pins."

"Experience, time, all that shit," Annabeth slumped against him, barely keeping herself upright. It seemed the more they walked towards her room, the more exhausted she became. She was practically falling asleep on top of him. "No more words," she said, patting his chest in an almost distracted manner. "Words don't let me walk properly."

Percy's mouth twisted into a smile before he forced himself to stop, and tore his eyes away, focusing on the carpeted hallway in front of him instead of her sleeping face.

After about five minutes of walking rather slowly (god, Annabeth's feet dragged; you'd think she'd want to get to her room faster, but no), Percy finally reached her room. Digging through her purse, which he had remembered to snag before leaving the plane, he pulled out her room key and unlocked the door.

Clo, Amelia, and Ariadne barked as soon as they heard the door opening, but Percy tossed them all a bunch of treats from Annabeth's purse and they soon quieted, thankfully not disturbing of waking their owner, who was teetering on the edge between sleep and wakefulness.

Percy shuffled through her suite, opening various doors until her found her bedroom. "Ok, now you can sleep," he said, walking over to her bed and pulling away the covers. Annabeth collapsed the second he let her go, pulling up to covers and falling asleep before he could even get a single word in.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets, content to just stand there, but that would literally be the creepiest thing ever, so he turned away and walked out of the suite, closing the door quietly before leaning his forehead against it, berating him for his idiocy.

"You know, if you wanted to be reminded of how stupid you are, I could probably do that much better than the door for you," a voice behind him quipped. Percy turned around to find Grover standing there, arms crossed.

Percy smiled at his friend. "It's been way too long since you did that for me."

Grover walked towards him, grabbing Percy in a quick hug before letting him go. "God, it's been months since we've had a real conversation. Look at you, jet setting around the world with your very scary and very intimidating girlfriend who I'm sure could kill us both."

"You know that's right," Percy chuckled, leaning back against the threshold of Annabeth's door. Grover just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Your very scary and very intimidating girlfriend who you're also in love with." Percy's coughed at this, a little shocked at Grover's bluntness. He grabbed his best friend by the jacket sleeve and dragged him around the corner, away enough from Annabeth's room so no one could hear anything.

"Really, Perce? You're not fooling anyone. Making me walk ten feet away isn't going to change the fact that you like her." Grover smiled, placing a hand on Percy's shoulder. "How's that coming?"

Percy glanced around furtively before lowering his voice to almost a whisper. "How they hell did you find out?"

Grover furrowed his brows. "You mean, how the hell hasn't Annabeth found out? Percy, you're so incredibly pathetic at keeping this crush silent, you might as well be singing it to the tune of 'So Yesterday'. It's a little sad. And I'm not really sure how Annabeth hasn't found out yet."

Percy just groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. "Is it really that obvious?"

His best friend placed a palacating hand on Percy's arm. "You're just not the best at keeping your emotions under the surface. Neither am I. It's not something to be ashamed about."

"I hate myself," he grumbled, face smushed by his hands. Percy looked up at Grover pleadingly. "How do I stop this?"

Grover shrugged. "Asking the same question everyone else has been for decades man. I have no idea how to answer that, and I'm not really sure anyone in the world does."

"I just.. I can't lose her, Grover," Percy pleaded, looking at his best friend, emotions tangling up inside him. "I don't know what I'd do. I just want her as a friend. That's all I need."

"You gotta figure out a way to either tell her or let her be with someone else, Percy. You have to get over her if you don't want anything to happen in reality. You're the Prince of Mylar. You can't date like normal people would. And I'm sorry about that. But you need to sort your shit out soon."

"You're right," Percy groaned, leaning back against the wall. "I've just never been with someone quite like her. Someone who wants to know me for who I really am."

Grover looked mock hurt, so Percy rolled his eyes and amended his statement. "Someone besides you."

"What I'm having a hard time figuring out is how you're completely oblivious to her side of the relationship. You're not able to see her feelings, which are so obvious and clear. And I'm not going to tell you. You can figure it out on your own."

"Fine. So, tell me, any updates within the royal palace?"

Grover shrugged. "As far as things are going with trying to figure out who's attacking you, they've been very silent for the past 6 months. Brunner thinks he may have a lead in Los Angeles. He's having a few of his other agents run it down right now."

Percy rubbed a hand over his face. "I've been pretty worried about that. What do you think the likelihood of them attacking me with Annabeth around is?"

"I really can't say for sure. That would depend on how much they care about her. Because they've shown their willingness to hurt anyone in their way."

Percy's jaw tensed, and Grover gave him a look. "Remember though, she is a bodyguard. She could kill you without even straining a muscle. She can take care of herself."

"I know that," he grumbled. "Doesn't mean that I want her to get hurt." Percy glanced at his watch. "I really should be getting to bed."

"It's only 4," Grover pointed out, glancing at his own watch.

"Jet lag and all that," Percy explained, waving it off with a wave of his hand. He yawned, squeezing his eyes shut before opening them once more. "I'm literally falling asleep standing up here talking to you."

"Glad to know I'm so appreciated," Grover drawled, watching him closely. "Yeah, you really need to get some sleep. You can't sleep on planes, so you probably didn't sleep the entire flight back. Go." He pointed down the hallway in the direction of Percy's room, and Percy shot him an exasperated look before muttering his gratitude and walking away.

:~:

It was the middle of the night when Percy woke up, unable to sleep any longer. He tossed and turned in his bed, but nothing was going to make him go back to sleep, no matter who much he wanted to. He just wanted everything to return to some semblance of normal.

Resigning himself to the fact that he wasn't going to fall back asleep, Percy grabbed his phone off of his bedside table and scrolled through social media for the better part of an hour. Mylar had been much more progressive than many of the English royals, so he was allowed to have social media accounts and do many things they were not allowed to. He had over 40 million followers. Eventually, though, he found himself bored with this and got out of bed, stretching before glancing around him room, trying to decide what to do.

He might as well go for a walk. He had done it a ot as a kid, and as long as he stayed out of sight of the guards and inside the palace, he would be fine.

Swinging his door open, Percy shut behind him as silently as he could and glanced around the dark hallway, illuminated by nothing more than dim yellow lights. There were guards stationed outside the palace and inside the sleeping quarters section, but none inside the living portion of the castle.

He found himself ambling down the hallway that he knew would take him to a secret passage that let out on the roof, and he really had nothing better to do except sit outside under the stars.

Percy glanced down at his phone as it buzzed, a notification indicating he had a new text message from Annabeth. Confused, he made to swipe at the screen and open the phone to read the message, but he crashed into someone else at that moment.

Percy's head snapped up and met Annabeth's blonde hair, as she looked up at him sheepishly. "Sorry, I was still looking at my phone after that text I sent you. Ignore it. I just wanted to know if you were awake. Which, obviously, you are," she added, looking at him up and down.

Percy held up his phone, which was glowing brightly. "Why did you want to see me? Couldn't sleep either?"

Annabeth shrugged. "Jet lag. I thought I'd wager a bet that you were awake as well. Where were you going? I was on my way to find you."

"Remember how on your first month in the palace I mentioned there were tons of secret passages?" At her nod, he continued. "My favorite one is nearby. It takes us out on the roof. Wanna come with?"

"Duh," Annabeth answered, following him as he made his way down the hallway. "I'll need a sweatshirt. And so will you." she pointed, shivering as she rubbed her hands up and down her arms. "It's warm in here, but it's November in this country. It's gotta be a little chilly at night. Rome was a lot better."

Percy nodded and backtracked. "Come on. My room is right nearby. You can borrow one of mine." Ignoring the bewildered look on Annabeth's face, Percy turned around and walked to his room. "The temperatures here don't change as much because we're right by the sea but it does tend to get a little chilly, especially up on the roof. Percy reached his door quickly, ad opened it, letting Annabeth into his rooms.

She looked around at the simple suite, covered in blue. The couch, the walls, even the pillows, were all different shades of blue. "I like the color scheme," she quipped, smile tugging at her lips.

Percy rolled his eyes and walked into his bedroom, rummaging through his closet for a sweatshirt. "Here," he said, pulling a blue one out and tossing it at Annabeth. She caught it easily as he grabbed a darker, navy blue on of his own and turned around.

Whatever he was going to say died in his throat at the sight of her in his clothes. Thankfully, she was preoccupied with staring at the walls of his room, and her back was turned away from him, so he wouldn't die for staring at her. He never realized how much taller he was than her at that moment. The sweatshirt tangled down to mid thigh for her, nearly swallowing her lithe body. The sleeves flopped around, and when he turned back to look at him as he pulled his own over his head, her excitement smacked him in the face with the sleeve.

"Ow," he deadpanned, rubbing his nose.

"Sorry!" she apologized, although she didn't sound very apologetic at all. "I was just looking at all your posters. Did you really get that autographed by Journey?"

Percy chuckled and shook his head. "No, it's my dad's. We're both huge fans, and he gave me mine. But this one," he said, gesturing to the one of Post Malone scrawled with Sharpie, "is mine. I have a bunch more posters full of artists that I listen to way too much music. I'm still hoping on getting one of them autographed by The Rolling Stones. I loved them growing up. Still do, even though I listen to a lot more music now."

Annabeth pursed her lips. "Goddammit, even your music taste is good. Aren't you supposed to be bad at _something_?"

Percy laughed. "Come on. Enough time here. Let's go." He opened the door and let Annabeth go first, resisting the urge to kiss her at the image of her in his sweatshirt again. He shut the door and made his way down the hallway. "We have to be careful," he whispered, leaning down so she could hear him better. "We're not exactly supposed to be out of bed right now."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Could have fooled me, Seaweed Brain." Percy reached a tapestry on the wall and pulled it back, pressing a stone. The stone popped out a bit and Percy grabbed it like one would a door handle, tugging to the side. The section of stone wall behind the tapestry slid easily, revealing a hidden passage.

"Dark," she commented, tugging the hoodie even closer to herself. Percy grinned down at her.

"Think you can protect me, Wise Girl?"

"Percy, if I get hurt because of this, you're gonna need to protect yourself from me," she said, climbing up the stairs.

Percy followed her up the stairs until they reached the top, which was sealed up. He reached up and pushed open the trapdoor, revealing the stars. Annabeth breathed a sigh of shock as she clambered up, eyes fixed on the sky. Percy revealed in the astonished look in her eyes as they sat on the cold tiles of the castle. They were on top of one of the tallest towers, closer to the stars than ever seemed possible. The night sky was impossibly dark and full of way too many stars.

"This is gorgeous," Annabeth breathed, eyes tracing shapes in the night sky. "I've never been this close to the stars."

"I love it," Percy admitted, moving closer so the side of his body was pressed up against hers. "Even if I don't know any constellations. I always liked to make up my own and make up myths about them, since the real ones are based on Greek myths, right?"

"It's November and we're in the northern hemisphere, right," she mumbled, speaking more to herself than him. She grabbed his hand and pointed. "Right there is Pisces, the fish. Pegasus is over there," she affirmed, tracing over the shapes with his finger.

"They're beautiful. How do you know them?" He turned to ask her, and found their faces close, noses almost brushing.

She looked away instantly, blushing intensely. "I was obsessed with Greek mythology as a kid as well, but I just went out and looked for them. I learned all of them, at all different times. Right now, we're transitioning between the autumn constellations and the winter ones. The winter ones were always my favorites. Orion, Taurus, your namesake, Perseus," she added, bumping her shoulder against his.

"Show me them next time?" Percy asked, smiling at her.

"Of course, Seaweed Brain. Now, I wanna hear all about the stupid constellations you made up, and the stories behind them. That sounds like a lot of fun."

"I never made them up at this time of year, so these are gonna be new ones. Help me?" he questioned, leaning back. Annabeth leaned into him.

"I suppose. Don't you think that those stars over there kinda look like an old guy with a cane?"

Percy squinted, trying to see what she was talking about. "Yeah, I guess so. And right next to him, those look like a giant crab. Maybe he had to defeat the giant crab to get over his ex-wife."

Annabeth burst out laughing. "No, the crab is his son, who was transformed by the gods because he couldn't figure out whether or not he wanted to kill this random snake that wasn't really doing anything but apparently terrorizing the citizens of the town by existing."

Percy just shook his head as she continued to point out random constellations and piped up when she asked for stories. When she leaned her head against his shoulder, he felt like his heart might burst out of his chest, it was beating so fast. When her head drooped more and her eyes began to flutter shut, he shook her lightly.

"Come on Wise Girl, let's go. You're falling asleep." Annabeth blinked her eyes open and rubbed them, yawning into her elbow.

"Ok," she conceded, following him off the roof and back into the passage. They walked the hallways of the castle in comfortable silence, fingers still entangled. Percy noticed, but he wasn't going to say anything unless Annabeth objected, and she hadn't mentioned anything about it. When they reached her room, Annabeth opened the door and turned around. "You probably want this back, right?" she plucked at the sweatshirt, going to take it off.

"Uh, wait," Percy stammered, reaching a hand out to stop her. "You, um, you can keep it. For a bit. You don't need to give it back right now."

Annabeth's eyebrows raised, but she smiled at him. "Thanks, Percy. It does smell really nice. And, tonight was nice too. I had a good time. Let me know if you ever want to do it again." She reached up and planted a kiss on his cheek, close to the corner of his mouth, lips curving into a smile as a blush burst out on her face. "I'll see you in the morning."

She walked inside her room and shut the door, leaving Percy outside, his hands stuffed in his pockets and with the sinking feeling that someone was going to get hurt at the end of this. And it might just be the two of them.

* * *

"It's too bright," Percy complained, holding up a hand to shield himself from the bright sunlight.

"It's Japan, Percy. Get over it." Annabeth was looking around the garden with wonder. "It's gorgeous. Have you been here before?" They were sitting in the car, and Annabeth's face was right near the glass, marveling at the city of Osaka. It really was quite beautiful in the spring.

Percy nodded. "Once, when I was very young. I don't remember much of it, though. I am excited to see the cherry blossoms."

Annabeth's mouth dropped open. "You can see them even on the way to the hotel. They're supposed to be absolutely gorgeous. I've wanted to see them for decades." Annabeth's stomach burst into an excited flutter at the thought that she would finally get to see them, what she had been waiting for for years and years, as a little girl. She loved the cherry blossoms in DC, but she had always wanted to see the ones in Japan. She loved Japanese architecture and culture.

Percy smiled, looking at her. "Well, then why don't we go see them, just us, after we check in at the hotel. I know we're scheduled to see them later, but it's not like we can't see them more than once. I know you love them."

Annabeth's face broke out into a smile. "You're too sweet for your own good sometimes, honestly. Are you sure it'll be ok? Will your parents be ok with it?" She cast a worried glance at the front of the car, as Percy's parents were riding in the car before them.

He shrugged. "I don't see why not. I want to treat my girlfriend." He shot her a wink and Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"You keep spoiling me like this, everyone is going to get the wrong idea," she protested, albeit quite weakly. She definitely wanted to see the cherry blossoms, just her and Percy and miles and miles of flowers.

"Let them. I want to be seen as the kinda guy who treats their girlfriend like the awesome person they are." A deep blush exploded over Annabeth's face, and she simply punched him on the shoulder before looking away.

Soon, they reached the hotel, and Annabeth bit her tongue to keep herself from smiling like a crazed person as Percy grabbed her hand and tugged her outside, after firmly announcing to his parents they were going to explore the city. They insisted that two bodyguard accompany them, but Annabeth managed to barter tham down to one, as she herself was really a bodyguard, not a girlfriend. The thought sent more sadness through her than it should, but it was ok. She'd still be friends with him.

Annabeth pulled Percy through the streets of Osaka. Tomorrow, she'd stop and look at every single thing, but today, her only goal was to get to the cherry blossoms. She wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.

When they finally reached to the park with all the blossoms, Annabeth slowed down and simply stared at them in awe. The branches were high enough so that she had to look up at them, but so close she could reach a hand out and touch them. In some places, the branches wound high into the sky, and in others, they dipped down nearer to her chin. But they were all beautiful.

She kept her fingers wrapped around Percy's as they wandered together, in perfect silence. She marveled at how gorgeous the blossoms were, how soft they felt in between her fingers. It was like she was on a cloud.

They ambled around the park for hours, staring at the Japanese architecture that was sprinkled throughout the park, hanging out by the lakes, but mostly standing by the cherry blossoms trees and just marveling at them. Percy kept asking questions, which she answered patiently, about the blossoms, the architecture, the park layout. She loved the way Japan had designed their parks and studied them.

All of a sudden, Percy tugged Annabeth through the trees, flowers raining down all around them. Petals got stuck in her hair and she laughed, shaking away the ones that had fallen on her eyelashes and cheekbones. "Percy, what are you doing?" She opened her eyes and smiled warmly, only to find that he had snapped a picture. "Percy!" she gasped, making a move to grab the phone. "Give it back. Don't you dare do anything with that!"

"Too late," he said smugly, hitting something on the phone without even looking at it. "It's saved and I'm posting it."

Annabeth fumed. "You bastard! I wasn't ready." Just then, she noticed where they were. It was a more secluded corner of the gardens, just a bench surrounded by a circle of cherry blossom trees. "They're stunning," she observed, enraptured.

"You're prettier," Percy blurted out, reddening instantly. "I mean, like, you know.." he trailed off, unsure how to save himself from this situation.

Annabeth felt her heart explode from what he had said, and she was sure her entire neck and face was pinker than all the blossoms in the park combined. "Stop it," she muttered, fiddling with her hands before crossing her arms. "How am I supposed to repay that compliment now?"

Percy just sheepishly smiled at her, scratching the back of his neck. "Come on. We've been on our feet the entire day. Take a seat." She flopped down on the seat, relaxing as the weight was finally taken off her feet, Percy next to her.

"I always used to dream about coming here with my mother," she revealed, still looking at the blossoms.

Looking over at Percy, she noticed a surprised expression, and smiled ruefully. "I know. I don't mention my parents much."

"Yeah, only about three times the entire time we've known each other. But you really don't have to say anything if you don't want to," he added, in a rush. "I don't want to pressure you."

"I think it's time you knew. We've been 'dating' for eight months, and we've known each other for ten months now. I want to tell you." Percy nodded, and when Annabeth reached out, grasping his hand tightly, he turned it so that her fingers were around his own.

"I'm here, Annabeth. Take your time."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I didn't grow up in the best of households. I never knew my mother, and my father was saddled with the responsibility of taking care of me. He didn't tell me anything about her, at all. I knew next to nothing. He did a really good job for five years, but that changed when he met his current wife. She didn't want a reminder that her husband had loved another woman, and we got into arguments all the time. Eventually, I ran away. He never bothered coming after me. Chiron found me when I was seven years old, and by that time, I was a pretty jaded kid. I was violent, lashed out, argumentative, and according to him, too smart for my own good. He wanted to take me in, and he made sure to ask my father for permission. He agreed readily, and as much as I hated living there, I would be lying if I said that didn't sting a little. Growing up, I just remember being plagued with questions as to why my parents didn't want me." She paused, glancing at Percy before continuing.

"Anyways, I grew up training, for years and years, until, when I was 16, I decided it was time for me to figure out who my mother was. It was the only question I had, and I knew nothing about her. It turns out that my temper wasn't the greatest, but it could be an asset while I was fighting. But I needed to think more like a spy than a street fighter. I easily hacked into the database and I wanted to see if my mother had been in the system. Unfortunately, and fortunately, she hadn't, so most likely I had been given to my father from the moment I was born. So I researched for days records of women who had given birth in hospitals on the date of July 12th, since my father always affirmed that that was my birthday, and there was no way he would have let her given birth any place but a hospital."

Percy dragged her closer to him as her voice broke, a lump growing in her throat as she tried not to let the tears fall. "Anyways," she pushed on, voice thick, "After months of searching, I found her. Athena Dayton, an architect at one of the busiest firms in the city. She had changed her name after leaving my father, so apparently I wouldn't be tempted to track her down. She had been a role model of mine, and then I had to go and find out she was the mother who had abandoned me as a baby." She swiped furiously at her eyes, ashamed that she was crying over the woman who had given her nothing.

"So, I found her, and I tracked her down. I didn't tell Chiron, I didn't tell Piper, I didn't tell anyone where I was going. In hindsight, it was not the best decision. She couldn't be expected to handle her 16-year old daughter showing up out of the blue very well, but I needed to see her. She knew who I was the second she opened the door. She had given me her eyes. As you can be expected, it didn't go very well. She was stunned and I was angry that she had left me behind, and I just wanted to know why. She ended up telling me that she had been a promising student, when she had made a mistake; sleeping with my father. She had me, but she couldn't put her life on hold to take care of a baby. She had to go. I was furious, but all I wanted to know was whether or not she wanted me now. Apparently, she didn't." Annabeth started crying, tears dripping down her face, which were muffled when Percy wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.

"I wanted her, Percy. I didn't care what she had done back then. I couldn't change it. But I just don't get why she didn't want me now. I haven't spoken to her since, and everyday that goes by like that, it hurts. I want to feel wanted."

Percy didn't say anything, just buried his face in her hair and let her cry herself out. She felt safe there, bracketed in his warm arms, but she couldn't stop feeling broken over her parents. She didn't know how to.

Soon, she was able to compose herself enough so that she could finish. "I left her penthouse, but not before shattering a couple things she kept nearby. It might have been awful, but it did make me feel a lot better. I was more hurt than I thought possible, but I just shoved those feelings down and got back to training. I didn't see her again. But my father showed up later, at my graduation. I was 18, and I was about to start college courses online, and I had just completed my training to the point where I was going to be the second on missions with more experienced individuals. He showed up and he wanted to talk to me. Apparently, my mother had called him about my appearances, and he had waited this long because he didn't know where to find me. For all he knew, I was dead. It would have been better if I was."

She withdrew herself from Percy's tight hug and breathed, looking at the cherry blossoms instead of at his face, at the ground instead of his eyes. "But I told him I had nothing to say to him and that I wanted him out of my life, forever. That was seven years ago. I haven't spoken to him since. More than anything, Percy," she looked at him, "I wish I could swallow my pride and just have a civil conversation, with the both of them. I don't know if I'll get over it without one."

"Annabeth, you're ana amazing person. You don't have to worry about anything. I'm sure that you're parents want you, now. They were wrong in the past."

"And, you don't have to worry about my past making you look bad. Chiron's already crafted an identity for me, which is actually pretty real. He knew he'd have to send me out on missions, so he made me a fixture in the neighborhood. I am a real person. My background check will clear with everyone. I just don't clear with my parents."

Percy sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Wise Girl, you've been through so much in your life, but you can put that all behind you. It's the past. Why is it so hard to do that?"

"You don't really know how lucky you have it sometimes Percy," she spat bitterly, looking away from him. "Your parents love each other, and would rather cut off their own hand than hurt you. You're all so loyal to a fault. I wish I could have that."

"If you want loyalty, I'll give that to you, Annabeth. You'll have mine, forever. You've earned it." He gripped her closer, and she closed her eyes.

"I want to believe that Percy. I do believe that, so much. You're the most loyal person I know. I know I have it. That doesn't change the fact that I don't know if I can ever accept it. You don't know what it's like to be left by the two people in the world who you're supposed to love the most. I'm terrified."

"Does that mean you still don't trust me?" he asked, rubbing a hand down her back.

Annabeth's body tensed at the revelation. "I don't know if I trust anyone. I really never have. I don't even trust myself. How are you supposed to pour from an empty cup?"

Percy opened his mouth to respond, but Annabeth smiled at him sadly. "I'm really sorry for dragging you into this, Percy. My messed up childhood isn't yours to fix. It's my problem to handle, at least for right now. I...I gotta go. I'll see you at dinner."

With that, Annabeth practically ran from the grove, alone, aware that Percy's eyes were still staring at her as she disappeared from sight, leaving a million things left unsaid.

* * *

Percy struggled to keep his jaw from dropping open as he descended onto the tarmac of the plane. He had always thought Rome, Osaka, and Mylar City were relatively busy places, but none of that compared to the sheer amount of people streaming in and out of JFK. It looked like half of the world had up and decided to move to New York City.

The only reason they were in New York City was to "meet" Annabeth's parents, although this was more of a cover story to keep the ball rolling for their fake relationship. With their combined powers, both Percy and Annabeth had bugged off of Percy's parents and left them back in Mylar, while they explored the city she had grown up in. Percy had never been there, and he was soon starting to think that he may never want to leave.

After Annabeth's confession in Japan, Percy had decided to leave well enough alone, and they both agreed to just resume their friendship and that nothing had changed. So he didn't act that way, and after a while, he almost began to believe it. But that wasn't the point. Right now, they were in New York City, Annabeth's birthplace. That was what mattered.

This place felt like home to him in a way Mylar never had. Most likely, it had something to do with his mother. She herself was from New York City, and had always loved it growing up. Some part of him did, even though he had never been there.

"Ok," Annabeth said, slipping on her sunglasses. June was a beautiful month to be in the city, even if it was hot and crowded. "Since this is your first time here, there's a hell of a lot to see and not enough time to see it. First things first, we're going to stop at the hotel quickly so that we can get started on our adventure right away."

They had landed at 7 A.M., and Percy was sure that Annabeth had a whole itinerary typed up for how they were to spend the day. She had kept it a complete secret from him, though, so this was going to be a sure surprise. "Whatever you say," he acquiesced with a shrug. "This is your element."

Annabeth's face split into a big grin, and she tucked her hair behind her ears as she glanced over at their guards. "We gotta figure out a way to ditch these guards. There's no way I'm taking you on your first trip around the city with a bunch of big, burly guys lurking in the background. You'd be safer without them anyways."

"I trust you to protect me, Wise Girl. Do people really get mugged in the city?" he asked, wide eyed.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Not nearly as much as the movies make it seem, but yes. People just tend to lose their wallets to pickpockets than muggers. Way more inconspicuous and less of a risk of getting arrested."

Their car pulled up just then, and Annabeth clambered in, squishing herself against the window. "Percy, come on. I'll show you a bunch of stuff on the way to hotel, and then we can travel around the city like normal people for the whole day."

Percy sat right next to Annabeth, a continuous feeling of wonder bubbling up in his stomach as he took in the city. There were so many people, and yet, he couldn't help but fall in love with it the more he saw it. He knew how much Annabeth loved this place and why she loved to call it home.

She pointed out places that he wouldn't have thought to see, where you could "get the world's best soft pretzels" and "the best soft serve ice cream ever." He liked this more. He wanted to see New York through her eyes, not TripAdvisor's.

It was far too soon, in his opinion, when they pulled up to the hotel, a fancy place that took up way too much room in such a crowded city. Annabeth rolled her eyes when she walked in, and Percy had to admit, it did seem like a bit much. But, he wasn't one to complain, especially when he was just about to sneak off like a teenager with his girlfriend. _Fake girlfriend,_ he reminded himself. Real friend.

Percy grabbed his own luggage, and Annabeth with hers. Despite all the begging and pleading, they were only in New York for a week, no matter how much he might have wanted to stay longer. And he definitely did now.

Annabeth shot Percy a look, jerking her head through the doors they had entered. "Follow my lead," she hissed, handing her luggage off to one of the security guards that had accompanied them. He pocketed his room key and just gave her a confused look, but did what she asked.

Not two seconds later, Annabeth's hand was entwined with Percy's, and she was dragging him in the direction of the doors before he even knew what was happening. "We'll see you guys soon," she called behind her, causing the guards to turn around and shout in surprise. By the time they realized Annabeth and Percy were gone, the both of them were out the door and in a taxi cab she had hailed down in a matter of seconds.

Percy turned around in his seat and had to stifle a laugh when he saw his guards standing there with a shocked look on their faces. Turning back to Annabeth, they broke out laughing, relishing their temporary by highly desired freedom. "Thank god," he sighed, leaning back against the leather seat. "I'm getting tired of being followed everywhere."

Annabeth smiled. "I would have thought, with your fan club, you would have gotten used to it. Unless they're not as dedicated as I heard they were?"

Percy gasped in mock outrage. "How dare you! I have the most dedicated fan club ever. Actually," he laughed, "speaking of them. How in the world are we going to get around this city without being chased down, hounded by the paparazzi, and alerting my guards as to where we are?"

Annabeth smirked. "I have that covered." She pulled a hat and sunglasses out of her bag, and at his disbelieving look, rolled her eyes. "Shut up. It really does work. If people aren't looking for the prince, then they don't see the prince. Corner of 74th and 167th West," she said to the taxi cab driver, who merely nodded and switched lanes.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Ok? But I only have about $200 in American cash on me from the airport. I hope you don't plan on spending too much money."

Annabeth smiled. "I have had this trip planned for months. All we needed was the green light from your parents. You don't need more than $200, if I'm gonna turn you into a true New Yorker."

Percy smiled. "Lead the way, great master." Annabeth just rolled her eyes as the taxi came to a stop." She paid in cash, before ushering Percy out of the taxi.

"Velain, Lavan.." he struggled. The letters mixed up in front of his face.

"Levain Bakery," Annabeth read. "Don't feel bad. I couldn't make out the words the first time I was here either. Took a couple of tries. This place has some of the best pastry products I have ever tried. Their bread is absolutely to die for." She tugged him inside the story, which had cool art all over the walls and a very modern, sleek feel to it.

As they settled into line, Percy wrapped an arm around Annabeth's waist and tugged her closer. "I'm pretty sure you found the best way to seduce me," he whispered, glancing at the ridiculously good looking pastry that lined the glass shelves and cases.

"Despite what you might think, Seaweed Brain, you're not actually that hard to get," Annabeth replied nonchalantly, tugging her Yankees cap further down on her head, curls askew. "I pretty much had you pegged after knowing you for a few days."

She smirked at him as they reached the cashier, ordering two chocolate chip cookies and two rolls. "Now," she said, carrying the food over to a table with two chairs, "I know you are absolutely obsessed with your mom's chocolate chip cookies, and I have to concede, they might be the best I've ever tasted. But these are an extremely close second. And these are the greatest rolls in the world. You cannot convince me otherwise."

Percy raised his eyebrows. "Bold claim, Wise Girl. Let's see." He broke off a piece of the roll and popped it into his mouth, chewing, eyes widening. "This is amazing," he said, covering his mouth with his hand.

Annabeth nodded, eyes shining as she took a bite of her cookie. "I told you so. Get used to that being said a lot in this relationship." Percy would have stuck his tongue out at her, but he was too busy focusing on this amazing bread, so he just settled for rolling his eyes.

They left the bakery fifteen minutes later, as, according to Annabeth, they had way too many things to spend all their time at one place, even though Percy would have been happy to. Their chocolate chips cookies were out of this world.

"If you ever want any more of their rolls, they do ship from their website," Annabeth said, walking out and glancing both ways. "Now, we just need to find a subway station so we can take it to The Village. It's one of my favorite places to be."

Percy just shrugged, "Ok, but I don't have a Metrocard." Seeing a smile spread across Annabeth's face, he sighed. "And I'm going to assume you thought of that as well?" She dug around in her purse and handed it to him.

"It's a staple of being a New Yorker to have to take the subway. I would be kicked out of New York instantly if I didn't take you on the subway. Come on. We have to head to the Village so I can show you all the cool theater places, and then we're gonna go to Chinatown for lunch, and then the Met and Central Park, and wrap it up with dinner in Astoria. Greek food."

"Whatever you say, Wise Girl." They reached the subway platform and descended. Annabeth grabbed his hand and they swiped their cards, making their way to the subway.

"Uh, it's really crowded, so don't be afraid to stand really close to me," she offered, standing at the edge of the platform. "It gets crazy this time of day, everyone trying to head to work and get things done."

Percy gulped as they walked into the train. There was quite a lot of people, and so he ended up with his entire body pressed right against Annabeth's, looking down on her. "How do you guys even breathe?"

"We don't really," she answered, smirking. "New Yorkers are all aliens, haven't you heard?"

The train stopped at various times for about twenty five minutes, until it finally came to their stop. Percy lurched off the train, desperate to get away from the crowd of people but also to get away form Annabeth, a little. She was too pretty for her own good and even more so up close.

They climbed the stairs up from the subway platform, and she grabbed his hand as they quickly jaywalked across the street. "I know this place," she said, pointing up at a beautiful vintage looking theater. "Village East Cinema has some of the most beautiful interiors styles I've ever seen. They show all these old and new movies, and they have stadium and balcony seating. I'd show you more of it, but we have so many more places to go and I don't want us to stop now."

For the next four hours, Percy found himself dragged all over the city, from Midtown to SoHo to the Upper East Side. He loved all of it, he really did, and Annabeth was crazy knowledgeable about all the buildings in the city. She pointed out various ones that he wouldn't have noticed in a million years and was spouting all the cool architecture about them.

Finally they found themselves in Chinatown with empty stomachs, surrounded by amazing colors and lights. "This is unbelievable," Percy breathed, taking in all of the culture around him.

Annabeth smiled. "I've loved New York because of its diversity since I was a little girl. Chinatown is one of my favorite places to go. Xi'an's Famous Foods should be somewhere here. They're unbelievable. And they're all really nice too."

He smiled at her. "God, I love food. Especially Chinese. I can't remember the last time I had it." They entered the restaurant, which had a nice sort of ambiance to it, all low lighting and quiet music. Annabeth spoke to the host in a quiet voice, claiming she had made reservations, and they were led to table in the back for lunch.

"Safety reasons," she claimed. "I refuse to get run over by your fangirls while I'm eating. If any of them come near my noodles, I will cut someone. This food is too good to waste."

"You really miss this place, don't you?" he asked, taking the menu the waiter served him.

She nodded, scanning over the options. "Two waters," she said, glancing up at the waiter. "Honestly, though, yeah. More than I thought I would. I don't know how long I'd be able to leave it. I'd have to come back at least once a year. It's too much a part of me to let it go."

Percy nodded. "That's nice of you to have a place like this. Mylar is gorgeous, and I love it. I'm proud to call myself its prince, it's just that… it's never felt quite like the right place in the world for me. No place has, really."

She smiled at him. "Hopefully, I can make you feel like New York is that for you."

They spent the rest of the day in much of the same manner, Annabeth being way too knowledgeable about everything in the city and Percy just being in awe of her. He liked this city a little too much. Or maybe he liked Annabeth in this city, eyes bright, smiles splitting her face. She looked happier here than he could ever remember her being, even in Rome or Osaka.

By the time they had finished getting Greek food at this quaint little place in Astoria, Annabeth suggested getting off a few stops away from the hotel and walking the rest of way. "New York is gorgeous at night," she breathed, tipping her head. "People always say you can't see the stars. I always say that it all depends on what kind of star you're looking for."

Percy slung an arm around her shoulder, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Thank you, really, so much, Annabeth, for this. I can't begin to imagine how much planning and time this must have taken, and you did it, all for me."

He couldn't see her face, but she ducked her head down and smiled, and he thought she was blushing. "Of course, Percy. You've done so much for me. I can't even begin to repay you."

Percy frowned as Annabeth sighed, leaning into him. He wanted to help her get over the issues she had with her parents. Whatever it took.

Before he could dwell too much on the issues, someone leapt out in front of them, and Percy felt all the breath leave his body as he saw the glint of a knife.

"All your money, and maybe the girl won't get hurt," the mugger growled, bloodshot eyes sunk into a pale face. Percy felt Annabeth's grip on him tighten momentarily before she nodded and let go.

"Ok, fine. Whatever you say." Percy grabbed her wrist as she reached inside her purse, but she fixed him with a glare. "Let go, Percy. Just do what he asks." Percy nodded, frightened, not for himself, but for Annabeth. He knew she could take care of himself, but still.

The mugger's eyes shifted to Percy as he slowly took his wallet out of his back pocket, and Annabeth chose this moment to move. Faster than a viper, she ducked and slammed her leg into the mugger's knee. Percy watched in horror and awe as he crumpled instantly, Annabeth sweeping her leg as he collapsed, making him stumble back and land flat on his back on the concrete. As she righted herself, the mugger struggled to get up, and as she bent to pick up the knife, he lunged at her.

Percy felt the scream lodge in his throat as he saw her bowled over, but she quickly elbowed him and kicked the back of his leg, sending him face first into the concrete. She grabbed the back of his hoodie and pressed the knife to his neck. "Next time you wanna be sexist, you might wanna reconsider that." She trailed the knife further down the mugger's neck. "I think that you can leave us alone now, right?" The mugger nodded frantically, and Percy bit back a smile as he scrambled away when Annabeth let him go.

The second he was out of sight, he rushed towards her. "You're ok, right?"

Annabeth put her cap back on and tucked her blonde curls in. "Yeah, of course. He was nothing. I've had more of a challenge on the mats in the training arena. He's just a high idiot looking for money to get a score."

Percy breathed out, anxiety dissipating into the air as she saw her pick up her bag and sling it over her shoulder, threading their fingers together. "Percy, don't worry. I'm fine. I was trained for this, remember?"

"It's not that," Percy blurted out. "It's, um, it's just that that was really hot." He blushed fire-engine red as soon as the words left his mouth, but thankfully she just laughed, tipping her head back.

"I'll take that as a compliment, Seaweed Brain. Come on. Your parents are gonna be pissed off enough as is."

"My parents? I'm pissed off, Wise Girl. People definitely get mugged in the city. You lied." Percy laughed as Annabeth rolled her eyes.

"Fine, Seaweed Brain. You might be right. This time."

* * *

There are three things in the universe Annabeth Chase knows with a bone-deep, crystal clear, unsettling certainty when she is eighteen. One, that she will take lives. Two, that she cannot trust anything or anyone besides herself. And three, that her parents will no longer want her after they gave her up.

She relearns all of these on a cloudy day when she is twenty-five.

She stared at the scene in front of her. Percy had rushed her into his hotel room, whispering "I'll be downstairs, at the breakfast table, if you need me. Don't forget, our flight leaves at 2 today."

It was their last day in New York, and she had woken up ready to go. Funny, how the universe worked, because now she was sitting in front of her parents, who had abandoned her, one as a baby, the other as a child.

Annabeth stared into the eyes that mirrored her own, grey ones that felt so foreign and so familiar. Blonde hair shone in her periphery, but she didn't even want to look at either of them. Too frozen, she just stared at her mother for two solid minutes, before she finally snapped out of it. Crossing her arms, she snapped, "What the fuck are you two doing here?"

Athena glanced at her father before stepping forward. "Your boyfriend, Percy, he asked us to come."

Annabeth's lip curled back in a sneer. "I didn't. I have nothing to say to either of you." She turned around and was about to stalk out of the room when she heard her father's voice say,

"No, and we don't deserve it. But we have something to say to you. And I hope that you want to hear it. You owe us nothing, Annabeth. But we want to do something for how much we've hurt you."

Her hand stilled on the doorknob, and Annabeth closed her eyes, swallowing past the lump in her throat. She turned around, arms crossed, and fixed her gaze on the floor "Two minutes. That's all the two of you get."

Athena stepped forward, but Annabeth leveled her with a steely gaze, and she stopped in her tracks. "When I found out I was pregnant with you, Annabeth, I was terrified. I didn't know what I would do with a baby. I was up and coming in the world, and I was not prepared to take care of child. Your father and I were in love, but I wasn't willing to put my career on hold. I couldn't take care of a child. But I was wrong. To completely detach myself from your life. To leave you with a million questions as to who your mother was. I might have not have been able to take care of you, but I could have visited. I could have been a part of your life."

Frederick glanced at her sadly, pushing up the rims of his glasses. "What I did to you, it was despicable. It was awful. I should never have let Janet push me around like that. You were still my child, no matter what. It wasn't your fault. You have two brothers," he said, smiling sadly. "Bobby and Matthew. They just graduated high school. I've told them all about you. They wanted to know why there were never any pictures of us."

Annabeth turned her face away from her parents, determined not to let the tears fall. Her stomach churned unpleasantly. _She had two brothers?_ Maybe if she hadn't been so angry at her father, she would have known about this. She missed everything about them. They were so grown up. "You abandoned me, dad. She might have left me alone, but I never knew what I was missing. You turned from my dad who would tell me about Roman gladiators and war planes to a man who couldn't even look at me when we were in the same room together."

Athena looked at her daughter, sympathy brimming in her eyes. "I don't want to beg for your forgiveness, Annabeth. But I want your understanding. I thought I was doing what was best for you when I gave you to your father. I just wanted the best for you."

"I didn't want the best for me!" Annabeth yelled, voice breaking. She swiped furiously at her eyes, which were shining with tears. How was she supposed to forgive her? She felt like her heart was cracking in millions of shattered pieces, and she was desperately trying to catch the shards as they fell, stuffing them back into her chest. "I just wanted my mother there. You were supposed to take care of me. I didn't ask to be left by my mother." She gestured at Frederick. "I didn't ask to be left by my father. You two were supposed to take care of me. I ended up taking care of myself."

"Annabeth, I am so, so, so sorry for what I did to you. It was wrong, and I am going to spend my entire life trying to make up for what I did to you." Frederick stepped forward, and Annabeth let him. He placed a hand on her arm. "Please, talk to us. If you don't want to, your mother and I will leave, and we won't ever contact you again."

Annabeth was silent for a minute. If she did this, there would be no going back. If she walked away, she never had to deal with her parents anymore. The pain would be locked away, but always be there, muted, and in the background. If she stayed, the pain would crack open. She'd let everyone know everything she went through. But, maybe the pain would go away. Maybe it wouldn't be there anymore.

She closed her eyes. "Ok. Let's talk."

"I think you need to know why I left you with Brunner, Annabeth," her father said quietly, sitting opposite her as she leaned against the couch. "You were such a bright child. And you wanted to know everything. I loved that about you. I loved everything about you. You were my little girl." He looked down at his hands and fiddled with his wedding ring. "When I met Janet, it was like this hole in my heart filled in that had been open, ever since your mother left me. But, when Janet filled a hole in my heart, I lost you. And, as much as I loved her, I made the wrong decision. She made the wrong decision. You were my child. And I wrongly cast you aside."

"I didn't mind that you fell in love again, Dad," Annabeth softly argued, hesitating before continuing. "I just wanted to feel like your daughter again, instead of a burden."

Her father leaned forward. "And that was my mistake. This entire thing had been my mistake. You were five years old, and I thought you would come and tell me if you were feeling bad. I treated you like an adult. I should have treated you like a child, like my daughter. I thought of you as a burden. Janet would have left me if the two of you didn't learn how to get along. But, when we got married, and you weren't there, I knew I had made a mistake."

Annabeth walked over to her father and placed a hand on his band as he buried his face in his hands. "And when your brothers were born, I loved them so much, like I had loved you. How could I not? But, when I held them in my arms, when I wanted to whisper to them that I would never leave them, like I had done to you when you were born, I couldn't. I had left you. I had abandoned you. And I couldn't make that promise to them, not knowing that I had broken it to my only daughter, and my first child."

Annabeth sat down next to her father, wrapping an arm around him. "I'm sorry too," she whispered, "I could have found you. I was too proud to talk to either of you." Her father turned towards her and cupped her face in his hands.

"You have nothing to apologize for. We get a fresh start now. Do you think you can give us another chance? Bobby and Matthew still ask about you. They want to know what you're like."

Annabeth looked away. How was she supposed to trust that her parents wouldn't leave her again. The answer was simple: she couldn't. But, she had other people to trust. Brunner, Piper, Percy. They had been there for her when she needed it. Even when she wasn't there for herself. They'd help her get through this. She had to give him a chance, if she even wanted a chance of moving on.

She turned towards her father once more. "Ok," she nodded, smiling at him as his face broken out in a grin identical to her own. Something in her stomach settled, a pit dissolving, so permanent she didn't even know it was there until it was gone.

"Annabeth," Athena said, sitting down on the other side of her. "You deserve to know more. I named you, Annabeth. And I looked for you. I made sure to keep track of you for years. You deserved a better mother than you got, and I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am for that." Athena tucked a strand of hair behind Annabeth's ear, much like Percy loved to do, but she flinched, leaning away from her.

A sad look crossed Athena's face, but she pursed her lips and continued. "You grew up into such a beautiful and strong women, and it is only my fault that I gave up raising you. I should have not left you alone. I could have been a part of your life and had a career, instead of abandoning you completely."

"I owe you nothing, Athena," Annabeth snapped, getting up. "I might have been able to forgive my father, but he was the one who bathed me, who rocked me to sleep, who comforted me when I had nightmares in the middle of the night. He cooked me food and he read my stories late at night. He was my parent. You are simply the woman who gave birth to me. Please, don't approach me."

Annabeth stalked to the door, wrenching it open. "Annabeth, please. I am so, so, so sorry for what I did to you. Please, let me make it up." Athena stood there, a placating tone in her voice.

She whirled around. "You are nothing to me, Athena. I cried, night after night, for a mother. I needed a mother, I needed someone, when my friend died in front of me. I was still a fucking child! _A child_. You abandoned a baby, and my father left behind a child. But, he did love me. You, I'm not sure you're capable of thinking of anyone but yourself. You mean nothing to me. Don't talk to me, don't come near me, don't have anything to do with me again. I don't want to see you again. You will never be my mother."

Annabeth slammed the door behind her as she left the room, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like a giant weight was taken off of her shoulders. She leaned against the door for a moment before straightening again. She had someone she needed to talk to.

When she reached downstairs, the breakfast hall, she saw Percy sitting there, pushing food around on his plate which she was sure had gotten cold. She stalked towards him and slammed a hand on the table, startling him.

"Hello," she hissed, fixing him with a steely glare. He looked up at her sheepishly.

"Sorry?" he offered, sending her a small smile. "I was only trying to help."

She frowned at him, but seeing the sincerity in his eyes, instead, broke out into a smile. "I know, Seaweed Brain. You really think I'm mad at you? You did exactly what I needed. Thank you. I couldn't get over my pride enough to call them."

Percy smiled at her. "Well? How did it go?"

Annabeth picked at the tablecloth. "Well, my father and I patched things up. I think things are going to be better now. I found I have two brothers, high school grads. I think things are going to be ok with the two of us."

"And your mom?" he pressed lightly, covering the hand on the table with his own.

"I told her I didn't want to see her again. I know, you brought me here to patch things up with her, Percy, but she abandoned me. Completely. She made no effort to talk to me, and I know still being angry about that isn't going to get us anywhere, but to be honest with you, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive her for what she did. I'm not sure I want to, either. All I know is that I really am tired of fighting with my father. He did try his best. And he's very sorry. I can't be mad at him. I love him too much to hold resentment against him."

Percy stood up, smiling at her. "You're amazing, Annabeth Chase."

She stood up, staring at him. All of a sudden, she threw herself forward, wrapping her arms around him tightly. "Thank you, so much, Percy. This helped more than you'll ever know. I needed to talk to them, even if it didn't end in the most perfect way possible."

Percy wrapped his arms around her, and she was pretty sure there was nothing better in the world than getting to hug him. "I just wanted to make you happy," he murmured into her ear, making her stomach burst into a million butterflies.

"You did so much more than that. Come on," she said, extracting herself from him. "Your last day in New York City can't be spent without visiting Central Park."

"I wanted to thank you." At her confused look, Percy continues. "For yesterday, Annabeth. The mugger. You threw yourself into the line of danger for me. Thank you."

She looks away. "I can still take lives, Percy. I'm not this pure person you think I am."

Percy smiles. "You're wrong, there. You're not a vicious person, Annabeth. You're a protector. You protect the people around you. Even if they're people who you haven't seen for years. You deserve to having a loving father. You deserve it all."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she just smiled at him, squeezing his hand.

Annabeth Chase walks away, on a cloudy day, and she has learned three new things. One, she does not take lives, she protects them. Two, she can trust herself. She doesn't just have to trust herself. And three, she doesn't need her mother to want her. She has other people who know, love, and want her, without any guilt.

* * *

Percy swallowed roughly, fidgeting nervously with his fingers.

Today was Annabeth's 26th birthday, and he had spent way more time agonizing over her present than was deemed acceptable. It had to be perfect, because it was for her. There was no way he could mess this up.

Why was he always feeling like he was going to throw up around her?

Percy ran a hand through his hair, which was completely disheveled on account of him doing this repeatedly, at least twice an hour for the entire day. What was he supposed to do about the nerves?

He was waiting for Annabeth to come down for her surprise birthday party, not shocking that she was late, considering she had no idea that it was happening. He had managed to keep the entire thing a secret from her, and although he knew that she hated surprises, hopefully she would end up liking this one.

He was pacing back and forth so much he was worried he might wear a hole into the floor of the palace, but not five minutes later, Annabeth stepped out.

"There you are," Percy breathed, tension vanishing. "Happy birthday," he offered, smiling at her.

Annabeth smiled back at him, reaching her arm around him and giving him a quick hug. "It's nice of you to remember, Percy. My dad said he'd give me a call later tonight, New York City is nine hours behind us anyways."

"So," he started, offering her his elbow, which she took, "26. That's a big age, isn't it?"

Annabeth smirked, rolling her eyes. "I guess. I don't feel very different from 25, to be honest with you. Can you believe we knew each other when we were 24? We turned 25 before we started dating, but it's not like we weren't friends. And now you're my 'boyfriend'." Annabeth leaned into him. "I'm glad Chiron assigned me to your stupid life, Seaweed Brain."

Percy chuckled. That was the closest she would ever get to telling him how grateful she was to knowing him. "Well, you might think differently soon."

He stopped in front of the ballroom and pushed open the doors. Annabeth stepped through, and as the lights flickered on and yells commenced, she shoved Percy behind her.

"Surprise!" everyone yelled, smiling at her. Percy laughed.

"I really hope this birthday is better than the other ones, Wise Girl."

Annabeth dropped her hands, which had curled into fists, and stared at the scene with wide eyes. "You planned all of this? For me? I can't remember the last time I actually has a birthday party." She stared at Percy, grey eyes light with gratitude. "Thank you."

A figure broke out through the crowd, and Percy nudged Annabeth in that direction. "Don't thank me just yet."

Annabeth turned towards the crowd, eyes widening once she saw who was there. "Piper!" she laughed, rushing forward and throwing her arms around her best friend. Percy knew how much she missed her best friend. It had been at least 6 months since they got to see each other in person, quickly, when Piper had stopped in Mylar while she was one her way to Asia. Annabeth used to spend all her time with her growing up, and Percy knew how much she missed her. After all, he missed Grover quite a bit when traveling, but he had a chance to see him.

"Percy got Jason and I on the first flight out from LA last night. He's been planning this for a whole month. It's so great to see you, Annabeth." Piper hugged her one more time, squeezing her tightly.

Annabeth turned towards Percy. "You did all of this?" at his nod, she smiled. She rushed towards him and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest. "Thank you, Percy. This is perfect." Percy wrapped his arms around her, tucking his face into her hair, which always smelled like lemons and was softer than he thought possible.

"No problem, Wise Girl. Now, go," he said, releasing her and gesturing to the rest of their guests, who all had been watching this spectacle, enraptured. "They're waiting."

Percy held back as she went through the crowd, Piper as her side, talking about anything and everything. Piper's boyfriend, Jason, sidled up to him, a glass of punch in one hand. "You're breaking all the boyfriend expectations, Jackson," he commented wryly, taking a sip out of his glass. "Keep this up and everyone is going to be overly invested in your relationship."

"Aren't they already?" Percy asserted, turning to Jason. "Somehow, everyone is obsessed with what we're doing things and when. When we were dating for six months, rumors of engagement rings popped up. Six months. It's only gotten crazier now that we;re nearing a year."

"What's that like?" Jason asked, turning intense blue eyes on him. "Hiding your feelings for someone for nearly a year."

Percy smiled ruefully. He had gotten over people constantly asking him about his feelings for Annabeth; at this point, he was sure the only person who didn't know was Annabeth herself. "You get used to it," he admitted, crossing his arms. "Honestly. I've been pushing them down so long repeatedly that I kinda forget they're there sometimes. But they haven't gone away yet."

Jason frowned. "Do you even want them to?"

Percy was spared from having to respond to that very difficult question by Annabeth, who rushed up to him and smiled. "Come on, Percy. You're missing all the fun!"

Annabeth dragged him around the room, introducing him to plenty of people. He already knew Piper from inviting her to the party, and he first reaction had been to raise her eyebrows and say, "Wow. Everything Annabeth said about you was true."

Percy had shuffled nervously, scuffing the toe of his new sneakers. "What did she say about me?" Piper had just shot him an unsettling smile and shook her head, claiming that under no circumstances could she reveal that.

She was pretty cool though, and he liked her simply for the fact that she brought a wide smile to Annabeth's face. He managed to talk to her friends and socialize with some of the other people he had invited to the party.

At some point, when he was over at the refreshment table grabbing himself a bottle of water, the crowd broke open to reveal his mother striding towards him. Percy raised his eyebrows, hand that was holding the bottle dropping to the side. "Mom. What are you doing here?" He dropped a kiss on her cheek and leveled her with questioning eyes.

"I think I have a right to know what goes on in my ballroom, no?" she inquired, lips curving into a smile. "Is this your tactic at wooing this girl?"

Percy groaned in frustration. "Mom!" he whined, a blush staining his cheeks. He was 25, and his mother was still teasing him. Nice to know.

"You need to step up your game, Percy. When I was your age, I was married to your father and pregnant with you. Clearly, you did not inherit his skills." The smirk on Sally's face turned into a genuine smile as Annabeth noticed them and walked over. "Annabeth, dear. I'm sorry for dropping by uninvited. I just wanted to wish you a very happy birthday and thank you for all you've done for my family this past year."

Annabeth smiled, hugging Sally tightly before stepping away. "In my opinion, anyone who can put up with Percy is a saint, so I really should be thanking you."

"I have to get going, but thank you for letting me intrude," his mother finished, stepping backwards. Annabeth waved while Percy pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Don't forget," Sally whispered in his ear. "Doing nothing is the worst thing you can do."

Percy just stepped back and watched his mother give him a small smile before vanishing once more into the crowd. He knew what everyone was saying was right, but still. He couldn't seem to find it in him to risk losing the friendship that he had with her. There was a likely chance she wouldn't reciprocate his feelings, and where would they be then? It was cowardly, and stupid, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He was pretty sure nothing would.

The party dragged on for a couple more hours, then, around 10. P.M., the guests began leaving, departing in their cars back to their homes. Jason and Piper had a room in the palace that Percy had arranged for them, and they were to stay a week before Piper had to get back to LA. Annabeth had just ended her call with her father when Piper waved goodbye, and all of sudden, it was just the two of them left in the ballroom.

Percy glanced around at the disheveled room. "I'll get someone to take your presents up to your room." Percy hadn't meant to invite many people, but those he had had brought a ton of stuff for Annabeth, if there was any indication by the pile of presents.

Annabeth smacked him on the arm. "Come on, rich boy. We could stand to help them out a bit." Percy nodded, and they both set to work cleaning up all the trash in the room.

With the both of them working together, everything was cleared off quickly, and al that was left when they were finished were the tables and the presents in the corner.

Annabeth yawned, voice suddenly thick. "Well, Seaweed Brain, I'm gonna turn in for the night. Thank you. So much." She turned to go away, but Percy reached out and grasped her wrist.

"Wait. Just a second. I haven't gotten to give you my present yet. Walk with me? In the garden?" Annabeth looked a little confused, but she nodded, blinking harshly then opening her eyes to keep herself from falling asleep.

"Lead the way."

They walked in silence for a bit, and Percy didn't deny that everytime she tilted her head to look at him in an inquisitive manner, he wanted to throw up. The bag he clutched in his hands was nearly ripped from how tight he was gripping it, and his knuckles stood out starkly white against the skin of his hands.

By the time they had reached the same place where they had gone on their very first date, the stars shone bright in the sky and there was nobody in the garden save for them. Annabeth pulled her chair around, and, instead of sitting opposite Percy, sat next to him, leaning back in her chair.

"So? You prevented me from going to sleep. I'm ready to see what you have in store."

Percy gulped, but smiled at her. He grabbed the bag and handed it to her. "I spent a good amount of time on it. I really hope you like it."

Annabeth pulled out the first thing, which was a picture frame. She looked confused until she turned it over and held it in the light. "Oh my god. How in the world did you get this?"

"You'd be surprised what you can do with large, intimidating men standing behind you." he laughed. "I picked the one I thought you would like the most." In the frame, there was a small flower, perfectly pressed and preserved in between the glass sheet and the paper behind it. Percy knew how much Annabeth had loved the cherry blossom flowers, and now they were immortalized for her, so it would never die or lose its color, and she could always remember the fun times they had together.

He nodded towards the bag. "Check out the other one." Annabeth reached and pulled out a smooth, leather bound, shiny red novel.

Emblazoned on the front cover, in fancy gold filigree, was the words _The Odyssey_. "It's a rare copy," he murmured, turning it over so she could feel it in her hands. "Only four more like it in the world, and all of them in private collections.

"Percy," she breathed, gazing at the book with reverence. "How on Earth did you find this?"

He shrugged. "Contrary to the way I act sometimes, I am a prince. We have an extensive library from here. This was just sitting there, collecting dust, so I decided it might fare better in the hands and on the shelf of someone who would actually appreciate it.

"Percy, I-I can't accept this," she stammered, handing the book back to him. "It's way too valuable, and you probably violated like half a dozen rules, even though that doesn't really matter as much to me and一"

Percy cut her off with a laugh. "Annabeth. Please. I want you to have it. You're one of my best friends, and this is nothing compared to what I wish I could give you. Please. Take it." Percy knew he was playing the trump card a little here, but he turned on the baby seal eyes, as Annabeth referred to them, in order to persuade her.

Annabeth chuckled. "Not fair. You're using seal eyes on me." Percy didn't say anything, just placed the book back in her hands. She sighed reluctantly. "Ok, fine. Thank you, Percy." She leaned forward and grabbed him in a tight hug. "Thank you for the book, and for the flower, and for Piper and the party. You're the best present I got this year."

* * *

Annabeth was pretty sure she had two options right now; throwing herself off a cliff or handing Percy his birthday present in front of everyone at the party they were both currently at.

Option one was looking a little too enticing to her.

She was sure a piece of cake had lodged itself in her throat, due to her difficulty swallowing. Never mind that. Annabeth bit her lip, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Everyone was walking up to Percy, wishing him a good birthday before walking away.

She was pretty sure that her life had become infinitely more crazy with the beginning of this whole charade, but could she deny that it had become infinitely better? She really couldn't.

She brushed a hand over her lips. She couldn't deny how in love with him she was, considering she still remembered the way his lips felt against hers, months ago. Sometimes, all she wanted was for this crush to die a little quicker.

She smiled tightly as Percy walked up to her as the last guest had left his party. He had only invited a small amount of people initially, and she knew how much the party had meant to have his parents there. "I hope you had a good time," he said softly, touching her elbow with his hand. Green eyes bored into her, concerned.

Annabeth swallowed roughly and smiled back at him. "It was a lovely party, Percy. Now," she said, taking his hand. "I'm taking a page out of your book. Come with me." Percy nodded, slipping his hand into hers. Annabeth cursed herself. For two people who only fake dating, they spent way too much time holding hands in the vicinity of people who didn't need to be convinced.

Well, there was always the off chance that someone from Percy's party was still in the palace. They couldn't risk anything. Annabeth managed to convince herself of the validity of this, even though her stomach was still churning so rapidly she wanted to throw up.

"So," Percy chirped jauntily, bouncing up and down with excitement, "what have you got in store for me? It better be something amazing." Annabeth looked down at the bag she held in her hands.

"I really hope you like it. I'm not the princess of a country, so I didn't exactly have many options, but I did the best I could." She worried at her lip, carefully watching Percy's face.

She cast a glance down at the bag and didn't see the expression on his face soften, and he placed a hand on her arm. "Annabeth, no matter what it is, I'm sure that I'll love it. Don't worry about that."

She took a deep breath a nodded, leaning against one of the stone pillars. "Ok, then." She reached inside the bag and pulled out a large sheet of rolled paper, handing it to me. Percy took it from her with a confused look and unrolled it.

"No way," he breathed. "You got me a signed poster from The Rolling Stones."

She ducked her head in embarrassment. "I remembered you mentioning them when we were going stargazing that night. You said it was the one thing in your music collection that you wanted, but you didn't have. I asked around the city through Chiron, and I found a friend of mine who knew the guards for the band. She got it to me."

Percy swept her up into a tight hug so quickly she was off the ground for a few seconds, but she wrapped her arms around him tightly right after and buried her face into his neck. "This is amazing. Thank you."

She smiled, stepping out of his embrace. "That's not it, Seaweed Brain." she smacked him on the arm and pointed at the bag. "Take a look."

Percy pulled out a large, wrapped box out of the bag and ripped open the wrapping paper. She tried not to wince at the indelicate way he handled the paper, but whatever. When he tore away the part of the paper that obscured the name on the box, his mouth dropped. "Annabeth…" he trailed off, looking up at her.

"You mentioned how much you loved the stars. I thought that you would appreciate having something to help you see those constellations better. It's um, it's top of the line, though. A really good one." She shuffled nervously.

He trailed his fingers over the telescope before looking up at her. "It's beautiful. You didn't spend too much money on this, did you?"

She bit back the real number. "No. not at all. Don't worry about that." It actually had been one of the most expensive things she had ever bought, but if it was for Percy, she'd get it in less than a heartbeat.

"I can only accept this one on condition," he began, setting it aside and standing up to face her. She nodded, biting the inside of her cheek. "You teach me all those constellations that you know."

"W-What?" Annabeth stammered, glancing down at the telescope. "Percy…"

"I can't lose you, Annabeth," he said, effectively cutting her off. She shut up. "You're too good a friend of mine, and it's already been a year that you and I have been dating. We only have six more months together, max. We've been friends the entire time, and I just don't think I can go without seeing you anymore. I don't want to say goodbye to you in a few months time only to never see you again. Brunner is zeroing in on the people who they think are after me, but I don't want to lose you either."

Annabeth sighed sadly, reaching out and grabbing Percy's hand. She placed a hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes, grey on green. "You will never lose me, Percy. No matter how far away we may be, no matter how long it take take us to get back to each other. You won't ever lose me. I swear on my life."

Percy wrapped his arms around her. "You're my best friend, Percy," she said, voice muffled by his blue button down. "It would hurt too much to let you go. I could never do that."

"I think it's time that I told you what happened to me, when I was in the war, Annabeth," Percy said, pulling back and staring into her yes. His hand was buried in her hair, his body pushing hers against the wall, and she could not let the thoughts in her head further. She nodded, mouth drying up. He sighed, tipping his head forward. "It's been a big deal, for the past few years. It's a requirement for every member of the royal family to serve in some capacity. My mother served as a field excavator. She said she didn't have the stomach to kill. My father commanded the army. I served as a sailor in the navy." Percy swallowed roughly, looking away from her until she caught his chin and brought his face back to her gaze.

"It's ok. Go on," she pushed softly, stroking his jaw.

"Everything was alright, until three weeks before I was stationed to leave the army. I had been in for a year and hadn't seen much combat. I was only 22, Annabeth." His voice broke, and she could see tears shining in his eyes. "Anyways, so, our ship was hit by a torpedo, and it started sinking, right away. There were 17 people on that ship, Annabeth. 13 of them died. I knew all of them. They were my friends. There," he choked, linking back tears. "There was one guy. Beckendorf. He had been serving for years longer than me. He died, because he tried to save me." Percy closed his eyes. "I still feel like I am responsible for their deaths. They died, and I couldn't do anything to save them."

Annabeth smiled sadly, and gripped the sides of his face with her hands, forcing him to look her directly in the eyes. "I know what that feels like, Percy. But you did not kill them. You couldn't have done such a thing. I know this."

Percy's eyes bore into her, more hollow that she had ever seen them. "I still feel like it, Annabeth. But the feeling doesn't go away just because I want it to."

"It won't ever do that," she muttered, sadly. "Trauma doesn't run away just because you ask it to. It's like a shadow. It only appears when there is light, and when there is darkness, it hides. There's a reason you're feeling this right now, Percy. You don't think you deserve to be happy."

Percy burst away from her, hands clenched into fists. "How could I, Annabeth," he yelled, whirling around to face her. "They died! And I didn't do anything to help them."

"Percy," she said, stepping closer, placing a hand out. "Could you have done anything to help them?" He stared at her with wide eyes. "All those men, same as you, made a choice. To take up arms to defend the service of this nation. They're all heroes. And it's not your fault they died."

"Annabeth. I watched. I watched at the boiler room exploded. I could have swum back and saved all of them. And I did nothing."

"I can't save you from yourself, Percy. But I can promise you that no one but you blames yourself for this." She stepped back into his space and wrapped her arms around his waist. "You're not going to lose me over this."

"I can't. Why would you want to be with someone like me?"

"Because, you're Percy. You never lie to me."

* * *

 _It's The One Year Anniversary of Prince Percy and Annabeth Chase Getting Together, and Everyone has the Feelings_

 _By Lauren Kravic_

So, in case any of you for the past year have been living under a literal goddamn ROCK, then you know about the relationship between Prince Percy of Mylar and Manhattan architect Annabeth Chase. And since the news of their relationship dropped a year ago in August, I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that everyone and their mother has been obsessed with their relationship.

Not only are they a pretty significant change in the trend of the way the royal couples have been going, (save for Percy's father himself) they also represent a changing time in world politics. The two of them are people you want to know more about, even if they've only been dating for a year. I'm pretty sure they're both crazy perfect and crazy in love with each other.

 **I MEAN, THESE TWO ARE IN LOVE!**

And if they haven't said much about their relationship since they got together, I'm pretty sure we can infer about how much they like each other. Let's run this down.

First of all, it's extremely well known that prior to Annabeth, Prince Percy has not had many serious relationships. And by many, we mean any. He was a well-known bachelor and a very eligible man in the world (sorry single ladies) before he appeared with Annabeth during the annual gala that Mylar held last year. According to a source that was close to the couple, prior to their appearance at the gala, they had been seeing each other for two months, and there is proof to substantiate this fact; photos of the two of them in Mylar City, where the palace was, on multiple occasions.

After their appearance at the gala, the two were seen on various occasions, this time less shy about hiding from the paparazzi, even going out for a theater date, which both of them are well known for being interested in.

The next biggest event in the couple's progression was their appearance at a fashion show in Rome. This was the first time Annabeth had accompanied Prince Percy on a trip, and to ROME.

Rome, guys. I DON'T EVEN HAVE A BOYFRIEND, LET ALONE SOMEONE WHO TAKES ME TO ROME!

But what was really significant about this trip was the extremely important kiss that the couple shared, by the Trevi fountain. Before, the two of them had been extremely scant and careful about the amount of PDA they showed, but GUYS. I literally could not be even more convinced of their perfection, but this kiss. Perfection.

Anyways, after the kiss, both of them were pretty secretive about their relationship. Sure, they were both seen were the rest of the royal family at all the events and everything, but we got NOTHING. I mean like, as a millennial who lives off of ships and adorable humans, (which this ship has an abundance of) all of my systems were exhausted and desperately needed more of them. And then, we got it.

According to a source that knew the couple, the both of them flew to New York City to meet with Annabeth's family and see her hometown. And don't get me wrong, but I now have unrealistic expectations for anyone in any relationship ever, whether it be with a boy or girl, because not only did Percy take her out for a beautiful cherry blossom adventure when they were in Japan, Annabeth arranged for them to see the entire city together.

And, about the cherry blossoms I was talking about, dude, the holy grail of pictures. I literally wanted to keel over and die when I saw the photos of them there. So, not only does Percy take his girlfriend around the world to the most beautiful locations, he also managed to make her look like the most gorgeous girl in the world while simultaneously being the most adorable couple in the world.

GUYS I CANNOT I AM SOBBING

Anyways I'm just realizing that while all of you probably know who Prince Percy is; 26, heir to one of the last monarchies in the world, ridiculously handsome and could have a side job as a model, actual decent human being, you all probably don't know much about Annabeth Chase, even after a year of these two being the cutest couple to dominate the world. She's amazing and incredible, and here's just a few things we know about her.

Despite growing up entirely in New York City for most of her life, Annabeth Chase, 26, still manages to be a highly educated and sophisticated woman. She works for one of the biggest architecture firms in the city, directly out of college, and her parents are Athena and Frederick Chase, an architect and historian respectively.

Somehow, she managed to find the time to be incredibly beautiful and studied at the University of Mylar, where she met the prince about a year and four months ago. I literally wish I could be like her. She loves dogs, Greek food, and rainy days, according to her. Not to mention, she's completely relatable and has told us on one more than one occasion how much she hates wearing dresses and getting dressed up all fancy.

I really don't understand why, though. She looks gorgeous in everything she attempts to wear, and I mean everything. The girl has skin I would literally **KILL** for.

But guys, as if their relationship wasn't perfect enough already, you should see the twitter fights they get into.

They could give Chrissy Teigen and John Legend or Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds a run for their money.

 _jacksonpercy: having a great time in japan, but getting cherry blossoms in your hair is not fun_

 _chasethesky: jacksonpercy: maybe if you bothered to brush your hair once in a while then you wouldn't get so much stuff stuck in it_

 _jacksonpercy: chasethesky shut up you know you love the messy look on me_

 _chasethesky: jacksonpercy seaweed brain, the only thing i love on you is the money you have when you pay for my food_

 _jacksonpercy: chasethesky wise girl, we've been dating for a year i think you can finally admit you're wildly attracted to me_

 _chasethesky: jacksonpercy the only thing i'm wildly attracted to is sleep_

DO YOU GUYS SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT HERE?

THE BANTER. THE **NICKNAMES**

I am deceased. Please feel free to list this relationship as the cause of death on my tombstone. But seriously, it's so nice to see this kinda refreshing, open and loving relationship between two people. I mean, everyone loves these two. And for good reason. Both of them are insanely committed to various humanitarian causes.

I mean, I've been trying to convince my bosses to get them here to do the world's first joint puppy interview (which we all know everybody loves), but I guess we're just going to have to settle for looking at the quotes from this one, which I've edited for length and clarity and shippiest moments.

 _Interviewer: So, Annabeth, how did Percy ask you out?_

 _Annabeth: Well, I mean, to be honest with you, it was kinda pathetic. He spent like five minutes stammering before he eventually blurted out a mess of words which I was able to decipher as asking me out on a walk around the gardens._

 _I: Percy, is this true?_

 _Percy: Yeah, basically. Anybody who really knows me knows that I have zero game whatsoever._

 _I: So, guys, what do you like the most about each other. How did you know that the other one was right for you?_

 _A: You wanna take this one first, or should I?_

 _P: I guess I will. I mean, those are really two separate questions, so I'll just answer them as best as I can. I guess the thing I like most about Annabeth is that she never gives up. Whether it is about getting a seat at the conversation about women's rights or about wearing an over the top dress that she hates, she never hesitates to tell someone how she feels and that she's not giving up until things have been settled fairly. It's certainly a sight to behold. And, I guess I knew that she was the right one for me, because she balances me out. We work together. At the end of the day, there's no one I'd rather just talk about things than her._

 _A: That's ridiculously sweet of him to say. For me, I guess the moment I knew he was right for me is when he showed me how loyal he was, not only to me, but to all of his friends. Percy could be facing down the leader of the free world or his own worst enemy, but he would always be unflinchingly loyal, whether or not the person was in the wrong. There was something extremely reassuring about knowing someone was always going to stand by me. And, if I had to say how I knew he was right for me, I guess it would be that there's never a boring moment with him. We could do the most mundane thing together, and it would still be fun._

 _P: We know how to make each other laugh._

 _A: That's the most important thing in the world._

Guys. I might spontaneously die of adorableness. THEY MAKE EACH OTHER LAUGH! I'M THE SAME AGE AS THESE TWO AND THEY'VE ALREADY FOUND LOVE MORE SUBSTANTIAL THAN MOST THINGS I KNOW.

Anyways guys, if you couldn't tell, me and the entire freaking world is in love with these two, and, if you don't believe me, here's the proof. I mean, ten minutes after the news broke on the morning they were among the top trending topics on Twitter, without even really trying. Of course, Twitter has become the main place people go to scream about these two, as well as instagram.

And by people, I mean me.

 _hanshotfirsts: too cute too cute too cute_

 _ship99wrecked: i want a boyfriend who takes me to japan all the guys i've ever dated don't even take me out to a fast food restaurant_

 _stuckinarut: to anyone who says annabeth doesn't love percy as much as he loves her, y'all need to shut up because you don't spend your time planning a surprise for someone you don't love_

Of course, there's always going to be the horrible haters who don't approve of this relationship because they live off of sucking the happiness and joy out of normal humans but that's just what they like to do.

 _brownglasses206: ew, who cares about these two. she's clearly a fake bitch only trying to get with him for his money_

 _hirshstars: honestly, they're both disgusting and relationships are fake. This thing isn't even real and is probably just a publicity stunt to make us give them more money_

Ugh, sometimes tweets like these just destroy my faith in humanity. But all I have to do is look at Percy and Annabeth again and it's restored. The two of them are beautiful and they're wonderful and they actually use their position to do good things, and if they ever break up, my heart might break in two as well. I highly recommend you go follow them on Twitter and Instagram because although they don't post frequently about the other, the stuff they do post is adorable beyond comprehension.

Also I feel the need to mention that they have three dogs together (originally Annabeth's but now they raise them together) and that their relationship is crazy supported by the royal family as well.

But I feel like the most important thing that I can mention is how both of them have used their relationship to support so many more humanitarian causes. Both of them are heavily involved with the issue of women's rights, in all nations, and child abuse, especially in war torn nations, countries where you expect there to be a lot of those issues, but where there's not a lot of people working on those issues.

Guys, they spread positivity in the face of so many haters. Please tell me how to do that and not be annoying. They are beautiful and amazing and wonderful.

Brb, finding a way to get me an invite to this wedding.

* * *

Percy was pretty sure there was nothing better than waking up to find pancakes in his room.

It was almost too bright when he blinked open his eyes, and he never wanted to leave his bed. Something in the corner of his room caught his eye though, and he sat up to look at it. Unfortunately, he didn't realize the extent to which he was caught in his own covers, and promptly fell out of bed twisted up in the sheets. Groaning, He pushed himself up and robbed his eyes, blinking them open.

In front of him stood a silver cart, which held a plate of pancakes and a jug of maple syrup. On it was a blue note written in precise, block handwriting.

 _Good morning, Seaweed Brain,_

 _On the off chance that you have forgotten, which, to be fair, is a very real possibility given your personality, but today happens to be our 'anniversary'! I thought we should do something to celebrate in case we wanted something for interviews and to make our fans love us even more. Come find me at the place you took me to on our first date, I have something to show you._

 _Love,_

 _Annabeth_

Percy laughed and folded up the note, grabbing his wallet off the bedside table and tucking the note into it. He glanced at the picture of him and Annabeth in there. Apparently, it was a candid taken of them while they were in Rome, just after he had kissed her. He had kept the photo in there for months now.

Percy closed his wallet and tossed it back onto his bedside table, before proceeding to drown his pancakes in maple syrup.

Twenty minutes later, he left his bedroom, showered and dressed. Annabeth had said to meet her in the place where they had their first date, right? So, that had to be the secret cove he had shown her.

Percy jogged out of the palace and walked out onto the grasses, mirroring the exact same steps he had taken when he showed Annabeth where the cove was. When he reached the pile of rocks that led up to the entrance, he toed off his shoes and socks and climbed up, pushing aside the vines to see her sitting at the cove.

"Happy anniversary," he greeted, sitting next to her and dangling his legs in the water. She smiled and turned to face him.

"Happy anniversary back to you. So," she laughed, bumping shoulders with him. "Reality time. We've been fake together for a year. Am I good or a bad girlfriend?"

Percy looked at her in confusion, but laughed and answered anyways. "Uh, I guess I'd have to say a good girlfriend. You've only threatened to beat me up like ten times over the course of our relationship, which I definitely deem a win, and you give pretty amazing presents, so, honestly, yeah, you're a good girlfriend."

She hummed in contentment. "You gave the right answer, Jackson. Glad to see you've got some semblance of brains inside that hollow head." She rapped him on the head with her knuckles lightly, and her shoved her away, laughing.

"Why did you wanna know anyways?" he asked, leaning back on his arms.

She shrugged. "Just in case I ever get a Tinder. I can make sure to put the fact that the royal prince of Mylar thought of me as a good girlfriend. Get all the dates," she joked, rolling her eyes. "God, men will believe anything, won't they?"

He wanted to chuckle, even though Percy's stomach was a little put off by the fact that she was looking for people to date even after they 'broke up'. But no matter. He didn't really have any say. It was her choice. "Well," he parroted, "am I a good boyfriend? According to your standards?"

"No," she answered instantly, kicking her legs in the warm water.

"No?" he gasped in mock outrage. He kicked up, sending a spray of water arcing through the air and directly onto her shorts, making her shriek in indignation. "Annabeth! Why?"

"You did say, 'by your standards', Percy. By my standards, no, you are not a good boyfriend." That settled it. He turned on the baby seal eyes, pleading with her for some actual honesty. She looked at him and sighed. "Fine. Yes,you're an excellent boyfriend. Not that I have many others to compare you to, but yes, you're a very good one compared to them. You're attentive, and kind, but not clingy, and really sweet. You're gonna make some girl very happy one day."

 _I only want to make you happy,_ he thought, but decided to swallow those words. "HIgh praise from you, Wise Girl. I thank you for it. So, you said you have something for me?" She nodded and handed him a short, flat box.

"Open it," she said, presented with a confused look from him. He nodded and gently pried off the lid, getting a glimpse inside.

"Annabeth," he said, taking out a stack of papers. "What is this?" She smiled at him.

"Well, I know that you were worried about losing me when this is over, so I did a little research. It turns out that Mylar is opening up an ambassador's residence in New York City, as part of the UN initiative. You're one of the few nations left that doesn't have one, and I thought you might like to join."

"What? Why?"

"You were so worried about losing me," she continued, "when we broke up. And you weren't the only one who was panicking. It's not like I was running out the door too. So, when I leave, I was thinking…" she gave him a sheepish smile. "You could come with? Having a member of the royal family as the ambassador to the United States would really boost Mylar's credibility on the world stage, even more. And this way, we'd still get to be friends, and not thousands of miles apart."

"Annabeth," Percy glanced down at the box in his hands, millions of emotions swirling inside of him. "I can't accept this."

"Sure you can, Seaweed Brain. It's all there. Information about the ambassador, various apartments you could stay in, all the necessary channels you would need to go through."

"No, Annabeth. You're not getting it. I can't go." Instantly, the warm look in her eyes hardened, and Percy's stomach dropped as he realized he was on the receiving end of the one look he never wanted from her: indifference.

"Fine," she said lightly, getting up out of the cove and standing. "Not your fault I misinterpreted our relationship."

Percy scrambled to get up and grabbed her arm as she stalked away. "No, Annabeth please. That's not it."

She whirled out. "Then what is it, Percy? Because it sounds a hell of a lot like you just rejected me."

"I can't leave, Annabeth!" he yelled, running a hand through his hair. "I'm the crown prince of the nation. I can't just up and go somewhere, abandon my country, my people, my family!"

"I'm not asking you to, Percy. I'm asking you to _serve_ them. But if you're too oblivious to see that, I guess I'm just going to have to contend with you being an idiot!" she fired back, clearly hurt.

"Annabeth, please. I don't want to leave you. But I can't go. I have to stay here."

"For what, Percy. The crown," she spat, like she had something bitter in her mouth. "Don't lie to yourself. Your parents aren't going to give you the crown for a long time. Not until you ask for it. You certainly don't act like you want it."

"That isn't the point!" he yelled back, all patience gone. "What's the point is that I be there, when they need me. I can't dismiss my family like you did." The second those words left his mouth, Percy wished that he could stuff them back in and swallow them.

Annabeth's eyes turned from cold anger to hurt, which wrecked him far more than anything else. "I didn't dismiss my family, so don't even pretend that you can get away with saying that. You're a goddamn liar, and you don't even get who I am. I'm not like you, Percy."

"I know," he sighed, all fight draining out of him. That was wrong of my to say. You didn't dismiss your family. But you're asking too much of me, Annabeth. Right now, I can't give you what you want."

Annabeth wrenched herself away from him and turned away, her entire body closed off. "You're too short minded to see it, Percy. I just wanted to avoid losing you, like I've lost everyone else in my life."

Percy sighed, reaching out for her. "I know, I'm-"

"No, Percy, you don't!" she yelled, tears dripping down her face. That startled him. Even with her parents, Annabeth had never cried. The thought that he had done this to her, the thought that he had made her cry, made his stomach curdle. "I lost my best friend. The person who I trusted most in the world. And he was killed right in front of me."

Annabeth wiped away her tears and took a breath. "His name was Luke, and I was 18 when, on a mission, he was killed. He was protecting this famous prime minister who wanted to be murdered by some of the rebels in the nation, who wanted to establish a dictator regime. The man he was protecting survived, but I had to watch my best friend take a bullet to the head. While I ran away. So, Percy, I know what it feels like to have someone close to you die right in front of you. But I've had it with losing people. I'm done. If you don't want to come, I won't force you. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Annabeth. Why don't you trust me when I say I won't leave you? You know that I mean it."

"And Luke meant it too, Percy! Words mean nothing. What am I going to do if you die? Tell me! Because I sure as hell will not be ok with just letting you be thrown to the side. No one remembers us after we die expect the people we hurt by dying. That's the truth, and you can't get around it, no matter what," she sobbed, wiping the back of her hand across her cheek, salty tears glistening in the light.

He stepped closer towards her, reaching a hand out. "Annabeth. Please." She took a look at it and clapped a hand to her mouth, and he strode forward, pulling her close and hugging her, as tight as he could. "If we are thousands of miles apart, I will never leave you. You can count on that."

Annabeth's voice broke. "It's not you that I don't trust, Percy. It's the world."

"Annabeth," he lifted his head from where it was nestled at her shoulder and looked her in the eyes, stroking the hair away from her face gently. "No one ever trusts the world. The challenge is finding it in you to be able to know when to trust the world and when to be wary of it."

He tipped his head forward so that his forehead was touching hers, closing his eyes. "The only thing we can do is promise things to each other and try our very best not to break them."

Annabeth laughed gently, breath puffing out onto his face. "Somehow, you always know how to say exactly the right thing when needed. It's gotta be a skill."

"It's not that hard when you're around someone who makes you feel more honest than you have in a long while. You are my best friend, and we will always be beside each other. I don't need apartments or friendship bracelets or anything to let me know that you're gonna be there for me, always."

"That's not what it's about, Percy," she muttered, wrapping her hands around his waist. "It's about what it means for the both of us."

Percy stared at the ground, unable to look her in the eye. "I know, Annabeth. We're gonna make it. Friendship is the steadiest thing in the world."

"I sure hope so, Percy," she muttered into his neck. "The world's let me down enough. I don't know how many more times I can take it doing just that."

* * *

Annabeth ducked underneath the branch that nearly wacked her in the face as she passed through the park. Maybe it wasn't the best idea, but you couldn't deny that Mylar in October as unbelievably gorgeous. "So," she said, conversationally. "What do you think about heading into the nearest coffee shop so that I can get my caffeine fix? I desperately need something to sustain me."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Ok, fine. But only if I get a scone and you end up getting a drink to go. I wanna check out some of the other stuff around the park. They have the best cinnamon apple donuts and apparently, the lake is supposed to be gorgeous."

Annabeth smiled. "You're ridiculously high maintenance, Seaweed Brain. I should be used to it. You're a prince, right?" She bumped his hip with hers, laughing as they swung into the coffee shop. She ignored the flutters in her stomach as he swung an arm around her shoulders. If she was ever going to get over this crush (which she really needed to, soon, considering that she and Percy needed to break up just after Christmas) she needed to find a better way to get over these stupid feelings.

No matter how many times Annabeth told herself that feelings were a natural thing and that she should let her own die a natural death, she was still incredibly impatient waiting for them to kick the bucket.

A clattering from the door surprised her, and she turned to look at who had entered, only to see the flash of a gun as the assailant raised it and shot the ceiling. All of the talking ceased immediately and several screams were heard, and Annabeth shoved Percy down instantly, pushing him over to hide behind one of the tables.

The man stalked over to the cash register and thrust the gun in the barista's face. "All the money, in the cash register, right now." The barista nodded frightfully, opening the cash register right away.

Annabeth cursed at her luck. There was only one guard with them and he was currently all the way over on the other side of the coffeeshop. Annabeth caught movement in the corner of her eyes and turned her head and as slowly as possibly, feeling Percy's grip on her waist tighten as she moved.

She caught the eye of the other security guard in the coffeeshop, who was reaching for his gun. She shook her head as subtle a manner as possible. There was no way they could take this man down without potentially endangering everyone else in the shop.

"Don't do anything stupid," Percy whispered in her ear, clutching her tighter to him.

"Don't worry, Seaweed Brain," she whispered back. "That's your job." Annabeth watched as the man backed up from cash register slowly, his back to her as her backed up, waving the gun around at everyone who was staring at him with wide, frightened eyes.

It was her moment to strike. She made to get up, but she felt pressure on her waist and was yanked back down, staring into Percy's green eyes. "Don't even think about it," he hissed, dragging her even closer to him. Body pressed against hers.

She glared at him. "You do not get to tell me what to do, Jackson. I suggest you release your hands right now if you want to keep them. Don't forget, you're the one who told me I was a protector. I think these people need protecting, don't you?" Percy fixed her with a glare, but she placed her hands over his at her waist and pried them off. "They need my help, Percy. You're not stopping me, so you might as well let me go. Do it."

Percy looked like he wanted to protest, but, thankfully, he let her go. Annabeth glanced at the door. The gunmen was just reaching their table. Now was her chance. She could die. She glanced at Percy and grabbed his face, turning it towards her.

He looked surprised, and she leaned forward, pressing her lips against his firmly. He sounded surprised but kissed her back immediately, and she let herself revel in the feeling for another second before pulling away. "I'll come back soon," she whispered, stroking the side of face, before pulling away.

Annabeth leapt on the back of the assailant, sending him faceforward onto the ground. "Get everyone out of here!" she shouted, in the general direction of the other guard. The man in front of her turned forward, kneeing her in the stomach. Annabeth groaned and the knee made contact with her abdominal muscles, rolling off the man.

He instantly clambered on top of her and began squeezing her neck, but she kneed him in the groin and grabbed his wrist, attempting to get the gun that was still clutched in his hand.

She fell down when he grabbed her pant leg and dragged, smashing her chin into the floor. Annabet whirled around, the dark red material of her shirt nearly catching on a nearby chair as she kicked her legs forward, shoving him backwards.

The man grappled with her as she pressed a knee into his chest, moving around so much he nearly missed when punching him in the face. The sound that her fist made when coming into contact with the bone on his face was a little too satisfying for her to be considered a good person.

Dimly, she registered that no one else was in the shop. The man managed to throw Annabeth off his chest and scrambled forward. She ran back and spun around, kicking him in the side and seeing the gun clattering from his hand to the tiled floor. Instead of making a run for the gun, Annabeth punched the man in the side and face, sending him to the ground once more.

She gingerly felt her side from the man shoving her roughly, and she was pretty sure her side was brutally bruised, if her rib wasn't broken. She wiped the blood away from her mouth and brushed her hair back, watching as the man lunged forward. Annabeth side stepped and turned around, so her back was to the door. She figured wearing him out by keeping him focused on her was the best way for her to protect everyone.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth saw movement in the store. She glanced over, eyes widening. There was a little boy, still trapped there. Why was he alone? Why was he still there? Annabeth shook her head. That didn't matter. The man had just gotten up, groaning, and she lunged forward, swinging her legs around and sweeping his feet out from underneath him. The man feel backwards, grappling at something, and he brought Annabeth down with him. She rolled back onto his chest, squeezing his neck so he would at least pass out, but she heard the sound of a gunshot go off, and she fell back immediately, looking at the area around her. As long as the boy wasn't hurt, everything was ok.

Annabeth climbed off the man and punched him firmly in the face, render him unconscious. The black blazer she was wearing was a little torn, and ripped, and she felt the adrenaline coursing through her body as she stood up and rushed over to the boy. "Hey there," she gently whispered, holding a hand out to the boy in the corner. "What are you doing here?"

The boy shuffled out from behind the corner and stared at her hand. Annabeth was heaving as the adrenaline rush escaped her body; she felt a sharp pain in her side, and pressed a hand to her side , wincing. She kept holding her hand out to the boy, and offered him a small smile. "It's ok. I won't hurt you." The boy eyed her distrustfully, but she smiled, and he took her hand.

She wrapped it around her own as the police burst through the door. "Here," she said, handing the boy over to them, wincing as her side shot another stab of pain through her. "Find his parents. I'm not sure how he got separated from them." The police nodded and took him away, just as Percy burst through the door.

"Annabeth!" he yelled, rushing towards her. He grabbed her and pulled her into a tight hug, and she hugged him back, ignoring the sharp, vicious amount of pain that tore through her body. "Thank god. It took so long for the police to get here, and I was so worried. Looks like you handled yourself pretty well though," he laughed, looking at her. He reached out and tucked a messy strand of hair behind her ear.

She choked out a laugh, before pressing a hand to her side. Suddenly, Annabeth felt something sticky on her hand, and pulled it away. Her blazer was damp, and the liquid on her hand was red. "I think he shot me," she said, looking up at Percy, before the last of the adrenaline wore off and the pain appeared in full force. Annabeth stumbled forward, caught in Percy's arms.

"Oh," she groaned, burying her face in his shoulder. "I think it might be time for you to take me to the hospital."

Annabeth!" Percy said. His voice sounded a more than a little panicked, she noticed. She couldn't help but feel pleased that he cared so much about her well being, but she was also a little worried for her own health. Most likely the gun had clipped her when it had gone off and the adrenaline had avoided the pain from being shot from manifesting for a little bit so that she could fight off the gunman, but she was definitely feeling the effects now. Her eyelids wanted to drop closed. "Hey, Annabeth. Annabeth! You gotta keep your eyes open, please! We need an ambulance over here, please!" he shouted, grabbing her face. She really just wanted to take a nap. "Annabeth!"

"It's tiring, Percy. I'm exhausted of doing stuff with you. I want us to change this, a little." She was well aware that she as rambling, but the pain was clouding her ability to think clearly and she didn't really care about much else besides staying conscious at this point. "I just want to go to sleep. I'm really, really. Tired." She let her eyes droop closed, blackness over taking her.

"No, no, Annabeth! Wait, wait, stay with me, please!" She wanted to respond to Percy, but his voice just got further and further away, and quieter and quieter, and she just wanted to fall asleep.

:~:

Annabeth blinked her eyes open, the bright light of the room blinding her. She groaned, tossing her head to the side. She shifted, and grunted in pain as a throbbing pain shot through her body.

Oh. Right, she had been shot. She was probably in the hospital right now. Annabeth pressed a hand to her head and rubbed her eyes, trying to make them clearer as her vision blurred a little.

"Hello there," a nurse greeted pleasantly, pressing a button on her bed. Her bed rose and she was no longer laying almost flat on her back, but sitting up in a much easier manner than before. A nurse handed her a glass of water and she gulped almost the entirely thing down instantly, soothing her burning throat.

"Thank you," she croaked out, handing the glass back to the nurse. "Exactly how long have I been unconscious for?"

"About two days," the nurse replied, grabbing a chart from the end of Annabeth's desk and marking something down on it. "Your boyfriend has been in here constantly. He'll be really happy to know that you've woken up. They had to operate on you for quite some time, and you were out for a long time after that. Do you remember what happened?"

Annabeth tipped her head back and closed her eyes, the headache intensifying the more she looked at the lights. "There was a man, in a coffee shop? I tried to stop him, and the gun went off. The bullet hit me in the side."

The nurse nodded. "You're lucky you didn't bleed out, the way you were moving even after the bullet entered your body. Frankly, I'm shocked that you didn't bleed out completely on the floor. Anyways, so the surgeons went in and removed the bullet from your body, but you had lost so much blood that it took two days for your body to recover. Not to mention, your heart stopped for two minutes inside the operating room. And you're not back to 100%. It'll take two more weeks before you can even leave the hospital, and then another month of physical therapy until you're back to what you were before. So," the nurse said, spanning her chart shut, "I think we've done enough talking, for now. I'll bring in your boyfriend."

Annabeth wasn't exactly sure she wanted to see Percy, but it wasn't like she could do anything about it now. And, honestly, she probably didn't want to be alone.

The nurse opened the door and nodded, before walking out. Before it could shut closed, a hand clamped on the end of the door and wrenched it open.

Percy rushed in, skin pale, hands shaking, hair messier than ever. She gave him a weak grin. "Hey there, Seaweed Brain." She reached a hand out and he grabbed it, settling into the seat next to her and pressing a kiss to her knuckles.

"Don't ever scare me like that again, Wise Girl. I thought I was going to lose you for two whole days. I'm still afraid that I'm going to lose you." Percy wrapped both of his hands around her one and looked at her so intensely she could feel an intense blush spreading up her entire face.

"You're cute when you're worried, you know that?" she laughed, reaching a hand out to smooth the creases on his forehead with her thumb. "It's alright, Percy. I'm alright now. You don't have to worry about me."

He laughed and reached a hand out to stroke her hair away from her face incredibly gently. "I'm always going to worry about you, Annabeth. I know you can take care of yourself, but that doesn't make me worry any less." Annabeth smiled at him, reaching her other hand out to stroke his face.

"Thank you for saving my life," she admitted, glancing down at their hands. "Although, I have to admit, I did not see you one-upping me under these circumstances."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Ok then. Well, I'm sure you're wondering what everyone is saying about the fact that you got shot." Annabeth nodded, waiting patiently. "Well, that's the thing. No one is saying anything. Apparently, because of the hats we wore, even when they were knocked off, people were too focused on what was going inside the coffee shop to even pay some sort of attention to who we were. As far as the world is concerned, you and I are completely, 100% fine and in the royal palace. The world will believe anything."

Annabeth smiled. "Well. Looks like everything worked out just fine for us then. I'm glad. It certainly ran the risk of having something horrible happen instead."

"Something horrible did happen, Annabeth. I had to watch as my guard dragged me away, leaving you alone in there." Percy's voice dropped and he moved closer to her, squeezing her hand tighter. "You're too brave for your own good, did you know that?"

Annabeth laughed, although it turned into a groan as the headache she was sporting intensified, to the point where it was like someone had taken a hammer to her skull. "God," she said, pressing a hand to her forehead. "You're so lucky you have me watching out for you. Taking a bullet is not fun, at all."

Percy frowned. "I don't like you saying stuff like that. Don't take bullets for me, please. It hurts too much."

Annabeth reached a hand out and rubbed her thumb across his cheek, choosing her words carefully. "You would protect me, at any cost, right?" she asked, receiving a nod from him in response. "So then how can you blame me for trying to do the same to you?"

Percy sighed. "You're too smart for your own good. I don't know," he shrugged, rubbing the material of her bedding in between his fingers. "I just got really frightened that you were going to leave me. Like everyone else in my life. I was scared that you would die." He looked up at her, tears brimming in his eyes. "I don't think that I could ever handle losing you, Annabeth."

"You would," she confirmed, leaning back in her bed to ease some of the pressure on her back. "You already did. I died, for two minutes, in there. You can handle living in a world without me. You're strong enough to."

"I don't want to," he whispered. She was really tired, though, and right now all she wanted to do was close her eyes and fall asleep. She leaned back and let her eyes drift shut, mumbling an apology to Percy for falling asleep while he was there. "Don't worry about it. I'll be here when you wake up," he answered, and as she slipped into blackness once more, she felt a hand squeeze hers, just once.

:~:

When she woke up, she had a bad taste in her mouth, and she could barely restrained herself from passing out right there. Her eyes fluttered open, and she saw Percy, asleep, drooling, in the chair next to her bed. She shifted her hand to get out his grip, but he stirred awake and saw her looking at him.

"Hey," he greeted, sitting up straight. "You were out for quite a bit. It's the middle of the next day."

Annabeth yawned and blinked away the tears in her eyes. "Do you think that you could get the nurse? I want to talk to her."

Percy nodded, although Annabeth could see he was a little confused. She was loathe to see him go, even for a moment, but he walked back in a second later with the same nurse who had been with her when she had woken up for the first time. "Good morning, Annabeth? How are we doing today?"

Annabeth winced as the headache intensified under the light. "Not bad. I've had this horrible headache ever since I woke up, and it just won't seem to go away. I'd say it's around a 4 or a 5 on the pain scale."

The nurse nodded and marked something down on her chart. "Well, we can give you something for that. As to your rehabilitation, the doctor has recommended that you stay in the country to recover in the hospital for another week, and then be flown to New York, back where you can rehabilitate in a familiar environment. It's said to help."

Annabeth nodded, casting a glance over at Percy. He wasn't even looking at her, arms crossed and standing next to her bed, gaze on the nurse. "How much time will rehab take?"

"Another two to three weeks in rehab should do it, but you still have to be careful for a while after that. You might not be able to guard like you did before." The nurse smiled, and left the room, but not before adding, "I'll increase your morphine drip a little, so the headache goes away."

Annabeth glanced at Percy, who was standing there, back tight and rigid. She placed a hand on his arm. "Percy, can you sit down?" He jerked over to see her, almost surprised that she was there, but nodded, settling himself in the seat next to him.

"I'm going to have to leave," she pressed gently, silently pleading with him to understand. She didn't know what she would do if Percy couldn't get that. She felt like she was abandoning him, and the sick feeling at that rose up in her stomach and settled uncomfortably there, like a giant pit that wouldn't go away. "I have to go, Percy. And I know that you can't follow me."

He stared at her, looking like a kicked puppy, and she bit back both a chuckle and a sob at the crushed look in her eyes. "I know. I just don't want to lose you."

"That won't happen. But I have to go. To get better. So I can come back to you." She wanted to tell him she loved him, she wanted to tell him that she had kissed him because she wanted that to be the last thing she did if she died. But the words were stuck in her throat, and no matter how much she wanted to pry them out, they simply wouldn't release.

"Will you come back to Mylar?" he asked, rubbing circles into the palm of her hand.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I think you might have to come and visit me in New York." Percy looked like he wanted to say something, so she leveled her gaze on him. "What is it, Percy? What's going on?"

He laughed and shook his head, but he was clearly unsettled. "What is it?" she pressed again, worried about him.

"Every time I close my eyes," he whispered, pressing his lips to her hands. "Every time I close my eyes I just see you getting shot, repeatedly. I see you collapsing in my arms and passing out and I have to relive the pain over and over and over again. I don't know if I can see that happen, again, and again Annabeth. It's too painful."

Annabeth sat there, digesting his words. "No. No, you're right. It's too painful. It's too difficult." She squeezed Percy's hand one more time before taking it back. "I think it's good for us, if we spent some time apart. Got over all of this, everything that happened. It's not good for you to be around me. Not right now."

Percy stared at her hands. "What about never leaving each other? It sounds a lot like you're leaving me now. I don't want to go somewhere where I have to watch you from thousands of miles away."

She ground her teeth to avoid yelling at him. That wouldn't solve anything for either of them. "I can't ask you to come with me, Percy. But right now, you and I are both pretty traumatized by what happened. I think some time apart is exactly what we need, if not for ourselves then at least for each other. We can't do this together. No matter how much we might want to."

Percy nodded slowly, looking up at her. "If we do this, I have to go, now, because everytime I see you I'll just be tempted to stay again, no matter what." She nodded, holding back the tears that were threatening to run down her face. They would see each other again, but whether that be two months of two decades from now, she couldn't be sure. "Goodbye, Annabeth," he whispered, rising out of his seat. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and stroked her hair back. "You were always enough for me."

* * *

Percy flipped through the channels. Couch surfing was one of his best talents and he was amazing at it. He could probably even win some medals, considering how frequently he had done it in the past two months.

He rolled over and smashed his face into one of the pillows. Sure, he had to let her walk away, but it had been two months now. He was pretty sure people weren't supposed to be feeling this horrible five days away from Christmas. He loved Christmas, growing up. The last thing he wanted to do was squander a great holiday because he was still torn up about the girl he loved.

The worst part was, there was no 'she left me' or 'I left her' about the situation. They had left each other, and while Percy didn't deny that the therapy and counseling had helped after, he was doing much better right now, and, truthfully, all he wanted was to see her again. Of course, that all hinged on whether or not she wanted to see him, which he couldn't say was likely, as she had been the one to bring it up first.

He was overthinking this. Percy raised his head up from the couch, where he was starting to suffocate, at the sound of a knock on his door. He started to stand up to get it, but the door opened, and Grover walked into. The second his best friend appeared in his line of vision, Percy flopped back down, pillow taking up his entire vision. "Hey Grover," he mumbled, clearly depressed.

"You are really doing awful," his friend pointed out, kicking him with his foot. "Come on, at least roll over." Percy groaned in protest, but a sharp jab to his side made him reconsider.

"Ow! Ok, fine, just wait." Percy turned his head so his face was no longer smashing against the pillow's smiled at Grover. "Hi."

Grover just raised an eyebrow. "I brought pizza."

"What?" Percy jumped up immediately from the couch and saw the box on the coffee table, smelling like heaven. "You're literally the best friend in the history of the world. Thank you so much."

He reached forward to open the box and rip out a slice, but Grover slapped his hand away. "Hey! No pizza for you until you get over Annabeth and stop wallowing. It's been two months, Percy. Either man up and see her or get over yourself. You're better than this."

Percy rubbed a hand over his face. "I supposed you have tips on getting over the love of your life, Grover. Because I lost her two months ago and I'm clearly not handling it well enough for you."

Grover looked surprised at his admission. "I've never heard you call Annabeth the love of your life."

"Well, that's what she is," Percy answered, flopping back on the couch. "Are you happy now? Love of my life, one of my best friends, best person I've ever met, the person who makes me better. That's what she is to me. So please, answer how you get over that."

Grover opened the box and shoved a slice in Percy's hand. "Eat. And listen very closely to what I'm about to tell you." Percy eyed him but shoved the pizza in his mouth, which, he did have to admit, made his feel a lot better. "You get over Annabeth because she didn't change any part of you, Percy. She didn't make you a better person. You already were an amazing person. She just helped bring out some of the best qualities that you have inside you. But you need to know, once she brought those qualities out, you can't stuff them back in. But, rather, you can keep them out for the world to enjoy." Grover took a deep breath. "I know you're worried about going over to the States, and her not being ready to see you. It's a valid concern. But, honestly, I think the both of you need to talk to each other. Because, Percy? That entire speech you gave me about her, about how you felt about her. I'm not the one who should be hearing that."

Percy slumped back against his seat. "God, I wish we were three and you didn't make any sense. It makes me feel weird."

Grover just laughed. "Shut up and eat your pizza, your highness. Then, we'll head to New York."

:~:

Percy pulled his jacket tighter around him and ducked his head against the cold air. It was a lot colder in New York than in Mylar City, but he did love the city at Christmastime.

It was only two days after Grover's talk with him, and three days away from the Christmas, and he had just made quite possibly the most spontaneous, stupid, ridiculous decision of his life. Flying to New York to see his best friend and ex (but not really because they hadn't formally broken up) fake girlfriend and the woman he was in love with and wanted to be his real girlfriend was risky. And complicated.

The building that he stopped in front of was covered in snow, and he could probably swear on his life that he had never been more nervous until now. He had stopped by Chiron's office to find out where Annabeth lived, and the old man didn't seem very surprised to find him, just pointed him in the right direction, and informed him that apparently, there was no longer any threat to his safety.

Percy bounded up the stairs of the building, which was on the outer corners of the city. After all, a bodyguard, even a royal one, could only afford so much. Annabeth lived in apartment 6A, so when he reached the sixth floor, he stopped in front of her door and wiped his hands on his jeans before knocking.

Moment of truth.

Almost immediately after he had knocked thrice, the door swung open, and Piper was standing there, looking at him. "Percy," she said, eyebrows raised in shock.

"Hey," he waved, stepping inside the apartment.

A mischievous smile over took Piper's face. "I'll get my stuff, and Annabeth." She walked over to the couch and grabbed her jacket and keys, shouting, "Annabeth, I'm headed out. Someone's here to see you."

Percy waited awkwardly in the living room. Annabeth's dogs all had beds in the corner of the room, and all three of them were sleeping soundly on them. The room was just like her, warm and inviting to the people who could see it.

"Piper," Annabeth said, not knowing that her friend had walked out. "Who's...here." she finished, walking out and seeing Percy. She stopped right in her tracks, and Percy was sure his heart had just combusted, at the sight of her. Not only did she look more healthy and happier than he had last seen her (well, obviously) she was wearing his sweatshirt, which helped him to calm down quite a bit. So she hadn't forgotten about him. Percy would be lying if she pretended that the thought hadn't haunted him for quite some time. But whatever. That was in the past.

"Hi, Annabeth" he said, raising a hand in a hello. Wow. How pathetic was he?

Annabeth just stared at him for about two minutes, not saying anything. The longer she went without uttering a word, the more Percy felt his stomach drop into his shoes.

"Annabeth? Do you think you could maybe say something?" He didn't want to push her, but she looked like she had seen a ghost. Her hair was in a messy bun, and as she stepped forward, Percy noticed a slight limp in her side.

"You came back," she breathed, reaching a hand out towards him. She pulled him and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his shoulders. "You came back to me."

"I'll always come back to you," he responded. God, he missed her, so much he didn't know until he had her in his arms against. Her hair still smelled like lemons.

Annabeth backed away from him, wringing her hands as she stood a few feet away. "So, how are you?" she asked.

That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. It had been a year and a half of swallowing down his feelings, refusing to let them bubble up and expose him. "I missed you as more than a friend, Annabeth," he blurted. Her eyes widened, and she took a step forward, but Percy held out a hand to stop her. "Wait. Let me finish."

She nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"I've never fallen in love before, Annabeth. I didn't know what it meant, but I did know that you were my best friend. You helped me with more about myself than I thought possible. But you were always afraid you were never enough for me. But, I'm afraid I'm not good enough for you. You took a bullet for me, and I can't even hope to begin to repay you for that. I think about you, every night, when I look at the stars. I see the constellations you taught me. It's like you're more than just my best friend. You're a part of me, a part that I don't ever want to see go away. I'm in love with you. And that's it." Percy stuffed his hands in his pockets. It felt like a giant weight had just been lifted off his chest, and all of a sudden, he could breathe.

Annabeth just stood there, hands shaking. "I made a mistake, not telling you this sooner. I'm in love with you," she responded, ducking her head. Percy couldn't quite believe what she had said, and she took a step forward, pulling her to him. "I'm completely, stupidly, I hate it in love with you, Percy. And I can't do anything about it."

Percy laughed, dipping his head so his forehead touched hers. "Well, I think that we can figure it out together, right?"

She stared up at him. "You're staying? Here, in New York?"

Percy's smile was so big it was starting to hurt. "Well, you did do all of that research for me. And you're right. If I want to be an educated member of my country, I should know how it works, diplomatically. I think being a part of the ambassador's office would be good for me. You found that great apartment for me, too. I miss New York. And, I get to see you."

Annabeth laughed, tugging his head down and gently pressing his lips to hers. She kissed him slowly, like they had time, and, for the first time since they had met each other and become friends, Percy could say that they had as much time as they wanted.

She pulled away from him and wrapped her arms around his chest, hugging him tightly. "I think we got a good deal, didn't we?"

Percy shrugged. "You could say that, considering all of this came out of you and your desire to one up me as a significant other in a relationship."

Annabeth stepped away from his embrace and smacked him on the arm. "Shut up! You know that you're lucky to have me as your girlfriend."

"Yeah yeah," Percy said, slinging an arm around her shoulder and pressing a kiss to her hair. "I know. Just make sure to keep reminding me for as long as you can."


End file.
